Kerala: Saji Cherian to return to Pinarayi cabinet on January 4

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: CPM leader and Chengannur MLA Saji Cherian, who was dropped from the state cabinet in July for his disparaging remarks about Indian Constitution, is all set to make a return to the state cabinet. If governor Arif Mohammed Khan approves chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan's request, Cherian would be sworn in as a minister again on January 4.
Meanwhile, the governor has sought legal opinion to ascertain whether the re-induction of Cherian to the state cabinet entails any legal/constitutional impediments. The state government has written to the governor informing the chief minister's wish to induct Cherian in the cabinet. The government letter has sought Khan's availability for conducting the swearing-in ceremony on January 4.
The state police report submitted at Thiruvalla court has claimed that there was no evidence to substantiate the allegations that Cherian had insulted the Constitution. The former minister only criticized the Constitution and hence the police have stopped further investigation into the case, said the police report. On the basis of the police report, discussions were going on in the CPM for some time now for the re-induction of Cherian into the cabinet. The high court had earlier rejected a petition seeking to disqualify Cherian as MLA.
It was a speech that Cherian delivered at Mallappally in Pathanamthitta on July 3 that attracted widespread criticism. It was alleged that Cherian tried to put the Constitution in bad light. Cherian alleged that the Constitution was compiled by the British and it was written as such by an Indian and implemented in the country. "Values like secularism and democracy have been inscribed on its sides but it condones exploitation. I will say that it is a beautiful constitution, which can serve to loot the most number of people," Cherian had said. Though Cherian had denied having insulted the Constitution, the CPM asked Cherian to resign after opposition demanded his ouster and even the CPM allies in the LDF refused to come to his rescue.
CPM state secretary M V Govindan on Saturday confirmed the CPM state secretariat's decision that Cherian should be re-inducted to the cabinet. Taking a U-turn from his earlier stand that the resignation in the name of morality could not be reversed merely on account of a favourable police report or a court order, Govindan justified the secretariat decision by claiming that court has found no merit in the allegations that Cherian had insulted the Constitution.
"The state secretariat has asked the chief minister to take necessary steps for the re-induction of Cherian. Matters like swearing in and what portfolios should be given to him are all the prerogative of the CM," Govindan said.
When Cherian resigned, his portfolios were allocated to other cabinet colleagues and his personal staff were deployed under other ministers.