Kerala ministers upset over PM’s function

KOCHI - Kerala Fisheries Minister S.Sharma and Transport Minister Jose Thettayil Friday expressed displeasure at state ministers not being invited to join the prime minister on the dais during the inauguration of the International Container Transhipment Terminal here.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier in the day dedicated the largest single operator container terminal in India to the nation.

Expressing their displeasure, Sharma and Thettayil told reporters after the function that the union government played politics over the programme by leaving out the Left Front ministers from the function.

“When the foundation stone was laid for this project in 2005 by Manmohan Singh, the then state ministers Dominic Presentation and Ibrahim Kunju - both from the Congress-led United Democratic Front government - were not only invited but were given seats on the dais. We have no problem in not being invited to the dais, but this ‘untouchability’ is not good,” said Sharma.

Only the federal cabinet ministers and a union minister of state were on the dais while state ministers and Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Oommen Chandy, who was the chief minister when the foundation stone was laid, were seated among the audience.

The ministers also referred to the advertisements about the terminal’s inauguration that did not carry Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan’s photo.