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Respect sentiments but the party has taken decision: Kerala CM on Shailaja move
A day before the swearing in of the new cabinet, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan allocated portfolios to his. Journalist-turned- politician Veena George (44) will be the new health minister replacing the high-profile K K Shailaja.
Amid growing criticism over dropping former health minister KK Shailaja’s name from the new cabinet, the Kerala chief minister and Left Democratic Front (LDF) chief Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday defended the decision as a “collective one” by his party and said there was no plan to dilute it .
A day before the swearing in of the new cabinet, the CM allocated portfolios to his. Journalist-turned- politician Veena George (44) will be the new health minister replacing the high-profile K K Shailaja.
Addressing the reporters in the state capital, the chief minister said that the party and government respect popular sentiment raised in this regard. Many left camp followers, cine artists, writers and students took to social media in a big way to vent their anger criticising the decision to drop health minister K K Shailaja who was the face of the fight against Covid-19 in the state.
“We respect their sentiments. But the party has taken a decision much early to induct new faces. It can’t give exemptions to some. It was a collective decision. All ministers of the outgoing government worked well and it reflected in the election also,” he said, adding there was on plan to change the decision.
When asked even central leaders of the party expressed serious reservation over Shailaja’s exclusion the CM said he was not aware of it.
To a question whether Shailaja deserved an exemption in view of the pandemic situation the he said many of the outgoing ministers deserved such exemptions but the party took a firm decision on this. “You may ask why the CM got exemption then. It was also the decision of the party... there is no room for individual decision it is a collective one. Many are giving an interpretation that I was behind the move but it is not right,” he said adding ongoing fight against pandemic will not to be weakened by change in the ministry.
“Our fight against the pandemic will continue with renewed vigour,” he said.
Meanwhile the state reported 32,763 cases after testing 1.40,545 persons with a test positivity rate of 23.31per cent. It also reported 112 deaths, highest since the outbreak began taking total fatalities to 6724. Active caseload in the state is 3,31,860. The CM said the state has reported 15 black fungus cases so far. He also said there is a significant drop in the cases after triple lockdown in four districts and normal shutdown in rest of the state.
