FIVE TOP CPM MINISTERS MAY NOT CONTEST

Five top ministers in Pinarayi Vijayan Cabinet may not contest assembly elections this time if the deliberation held during the state leadership meet in Thiruvananthapuram is any indication.

The state secretariat meeting held at the party headquarters AKG Centre here was of the opinion that the two-term norm needs to be complied with strictly while finalising the candidates.

According to party sources, if the norm is enforced strictly then Industries Minister E P Jayarajan, finance minister T M Thomas Isaac, PWD minister G Sudhakaran, Law-SC/ST Welfare Minister A K Balan and education minister C Raveendranath will not be in the fray.

Other MLAs who have completed three or four terms would also be kept out.

The district leadership of the party in Alappuzha had earlier recommended that ministers Sudhakaran, Isaac should be given exemption and fielded considering their high prospects of victory. However, this recommendation has now been turned down.

But party sources said that the final word is yet to be spoken on the issue. The secretariat opinion will be presented before the state committee and taken back to the Assembly committees. In case if the assembly committee unanimously decides to recommend the names of ministers again, then the state leadership will be forced to reconsider it.