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Kerala administration grinds to a halt

D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram

The administration in Kerala is badly hit as several ministers are keeping away from office due to various reasons.

With the Communist Party of India-Marxist engaged in cobbling together a third front, several of its ministers who are members of either the politburo or central committee, have been shuttling between Delhi and Thiruvananthapuram making the administration go haywire.

While this will continue until a new government is installed in Delhi, the biggest problem haunting the party is the ill health of some of its key ministers mainly on account of old age.

At least four out of seven ministers belonging to the CPI-M, including Chief Minister E K Nayanar are out of action due to illness. Nayanar has been keeping away from office for several days now due to ill health.

Nayanar, who developed breathing problems during a weeklong tour of the Gulf countries, is still taking rest. Prior to that the chief minister spent a week in the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital. He will need rest for at least another week.

The chest pains that Nayanar experienced in Kuwait has been traced to a heart ailment and this means he will have to submit himself to constant medical check-up.

The 81-year-old chief minister, who is suffering from hypertension, had undergone hospital treatment more than half a dozen times in the past three years.

The weekly cabinet meetings could not be held in the last week of April and first week of May as the chief minister was away from the state capital. Prior to his Gulf visit, the chief minister was away in Delhi and the north eastern states.

The cabinet meeting for the second week of May was held in his residence on May 11. Though the chief minister has been attending to some of the important files at his residence, files dealing with routine day-to-day affairs have been heaping up in his office. Various ministries have, therefore, kept decisions on certain vital issues needing his consent pending.

In fact, diseases related to ageing has been the major problem haunting the CPI-M leaders in the government.

Besides Nayanar, fisheries minister T K Ramakrishnan, industries minister Susheela Gopalan and finance minister T Sivadasa Menon, all of whom are in the vicinity of 70, are in need of constant medical care.

Sivadasa Menon, who was acting chief minister when Nayanar was away, has left for a two week ayurveda treatment now. Earlier, Menon had a detailed check-up at the medical college hospital and was warned about his deteriorating health.

Susheela Gopalan had underwent surgery at a private hospital a few days ago. According to hospital sources, she would have to be on medication for a long spell.

While younger ministers like Paloli Mohammadkutty, K Radhakrishnan and S Sarma are said to be in fine health, they lack experience and do not enjoy the total trust of the party bosses. This prevents them from running the affairs of their respective ministries independently.

Meanwhile intermittent political squabbles are affecting the performance of ministers belonging to constituent parties like the Congress-S, the Revolutionary Socialist Party and the Janata Dal.

A campaign for the removal of health minister A C Shanmughadas and irrigation minister V P Ramakrishna Pillai by dissidents within their respective parties, the Congress-S and the RSP, compel them to spend most of their energy in the battle for survival.

Forest minister Neelalohitadasan Nadar has been straining every nerve to protect himself from the machinations of the previous incumbent and party colleague P R Kurup.

The state secretariat at Thiruvananthapuram wears a deserted look these days.

The higher echelons of the bureaucracy are wary of taking controversial decisions as they fear getting entangled in vigilance and other cases.

Vigilance cases were slapped against over 4000 employees since the present government came to power and many were suspended. The residence of about 30 top bureaucrats were raided during this period.

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