Kerala Water Resources Minister Mathew T Thomas submitted his resignation to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday. He is one of the three legislators of the Janata Dal (Secular) in the Left Democratic Front government headed by the CPI (M).
The move was followed by the JD (S) decision to replace its cabinet nominee and hand over the ministerial berth to his party colleague K Krishnankutty. "The resignation is unconditional. The party won't split because of this," Mathew T Thomas told media after submitting the resignation to the Chief Minister at Cliff House, the latter’s official residence.
Mathew T Thomas also said that he won't join the Congress-led opposition alliance United Democratic Front just because his party had asked him to quit. "The natural space for socialists is with the Left. I was State President of the party for six years. I don't have any obsession for power," he said.
Mathew represents Thriuvalla constituency of Pathanamthitta district in the Assembly. This was his second term as minister.
Known to be a competent minister, Mathew T Thomas had handled Transport portfolio in the LDF government led by VS Achuthanandan from 2006 to 2009.
The JD (S) decision is based on the party’s policy of sharing ministerial berths among its legislators. The decision to remove Mathew T Thomas was announced by party National Secretary General Kuwar Danish Ali in Bengaluru on Friday.
The announcement was followed by a meeting headed by Former Prime Minister and JD (S) National President HD Deve Gowda. Krishnankutty represents Chittur constituency in Palakkad in the assembly. CK Nanu is the third legislator of JD (S) in Kerala. The Karnataka party doesn’t have a vast support base in Kerala.
Though two ministers in the Pinarayi Vijayan government had quit earlier, both of them returned to their posts.Senior CPI (M) leader EP Jayarajanwas re-inducted into the cabinet in August nearly two years after he was forced to step down owing to allegations of nepotism.
Nationalist Congress Party leader AK Saseendran stepped down in March 2017 after he was accused in a honey trap case. He was sworn back in as minister again in February this year after he got a clean chit from the PS Antony commission which probed the case.