THIRUVANATHAPURAM: K B Ganesh Kumar gets a new portfolio in the UDF Ministry. Following his father Kerala Congress (B) chief R Balakrishna Pillai’s protest Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Saturday decided to take back the Tourism portfolio from Ganesh Kumar and hand over the Forests and Environment Ministry to him.Balakrishna Pillai, who is out of jail on a 10-day parole, accompanied by his son K B Ganesh Kumar, met the Chief Minister on Saturday morning and complained about the allocation of insignificant portfolio given to their party. Sources said that Pillai was unhappy with the portfolio given to Ganesh Kumar. He also criticised his son for accepting it without consulting him.Pillai was of the opinion that his party should get a prominent portfolio as it has only one Minister. The duo demanded either Transport or Forest. However, the Congress was not ready to allot Transport to a UDF constituent this time. And the father-son duo was forced to accept the Forests and Environment.But now a fresh controversy has been erupted for clubbing the Environment Department with the Forests Ministry.Soon after Pillai came out on parole, he was fuming over his son for accepting Tourism Ministry, which he termed as a ‘subsidiary department’.He was more concerned over the fact that Tourism Ministry has no sufficient funds and there was nothing to cheer about by handling such a ‘minor portfolio’.Moreover, Pillai expressed concern that for every proposal and project his son will be at the mercy of the Finance Department which is under the control of K M Mani. It may be recalled that Pillai had a strained relationship with K M Mani soon after the previous Lok Sabha elections. Chandy-IUML talks todayMeanwhile, the IUML leadership has decided to have a another round of talks with the Chief Minister before announcing its Ministers. The IUML leaders are arriving here on Sunday morning and will be meeting Oommen Chandy.The talks will finalise the Deputy Speaker post and also the Parliamentary Affairs portfolio. Already the Congress had confirmed that it was not ready to give up the Speaker post to any of the constituents. The IUML leadership would like know who will get the Deputy Speaker’s post and the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry, a decision which had been kept pending.According to top sources in the IUML leadership, M K Muneer will become the Education Minister, P K Abdu Rabb will get PWD and Manjalamkuzhi Ali will be the new Local Self Minister.
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