Cong. likely to head 25 PSU units

By Our Staff Reporter

KOZHIKODE, AUG. 9. A consensus is being reached by various constituents of the ruling coalition on the distribution of State-owned corporations in the State.

The Congress is likely to head at least 25 public sector firms of several prized revenue-making corporations, as per the understanding reached at the meetings of top UDF leaders.

The second largest party, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), may be given 16, Kerala Congress(M) - 5, Janadhipathya Samrakshana Samiti (JSS) - 3, Kerala Congress (Jacob) - 3, Communist Marxist Party - 3, Kerala Congress (Pillai) - 2 and the RSP(B) - 2.

Sources said accord has been reached on sharing of a majority of the 65 corporations. But talks are still going on for a few more since most of the constituents want to get hold of the profit- making ones.

The corporations have been divided on the basis of the strength of each party. As such, the Industries and Agriculture departments have the largest number of corporations under them. Members from all the parties would be nominated to boards of various corporations. Around 400-500 partymen from all the constituents would come to occupy the highest decision-making bodies in all these corporations.

Sources said that the IUML would be allotted the Kerala State Textile Corporation, Kerala Small Industries Development Corporation (Sidco), Kerala State Salicylates and Chemicals, Kerala State Rural Development Board, Kerala State Handloom Development Corporation, Kerala State Detergents and Chemicals, Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation, Kerala Khadi and Village Industries Board, Kerala State Financial Enterprises, Foam Mattings (India), Forest Industries (Travancore), Handicrafts Development Corporation of Kerala, and the Kerala Agro Industries Corporation.

Meanwhile, some of the parties have already nominated their members to key positions of various corporations allotted to them. The Kerala Congress (M) group has nominated Mr. V. T. Sebastian to the Kerala State Housing Board. Similarly, the CMP has nominated its members, Mr. Pattyam Rajan and Mr. C. A. Ajeer, to head the Kerala State Co-operative Consumer Federation and Kerala State Cooperative Employees Pension Board respectively. The IUML has also nominated its member, Mr. K. Ahamed Pillay, to head the Kerala State Handicapped Persons Welfare Corporation Limited.

But the UDF Government wants a bureaucrat to handle the top slot of the Kerala Urban Development Finance Corporation situated in Kozhikode.

Sources said that the process of allocation of the corporations would lead to more factional wars in most parties, especially in the Congress which has four dominant groups. Several persons left out of the race to contest the Assembly elections are likely to come back with a bang airing their own grievances. The grapevine has it that the senior Congress leader, Mr. K. Karunakaran's daughter, Ms. Padmaja Venugopal, has already set her eyes on the post of the chairman of the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC).

All the four groups including the `I', `A', `Reformists' and the one led by Mr. Vayalar Ravi would leave no stones unturned to get their nominees being given the chairmanship of corporations. However, a final picture of the Congress nominees for the top posts of the Government-owned firms are likely to emerge only when the party's office-bearers in the KPCC and the DCCs are decided.

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Section  : Southern States
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