Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has said that he would keep the finance portfolio with himself after octogenarian KM Mani was forced to resign following High Court strictures in the bar bribery case.
Chandy announced this while speaking to newspersons after the State Cabinet met for the first time this morning without Mani, a day after he put in his resignation.
Chandy said that any decision for replacement for Mani would be taken in consultation with him only. But Mani has not revealed his mind to him just yet.
So it was but natural that the portfolio should come under the charge of Chief Minister unless he went for a new choice for minister, an option that Chandy said he did not want to exercise.
Meanwhile, members of the Cabinet, including the Chief Minister, trooped in one by one to meet former finance minister Mani at his official residence the morning after he had tendered his resignation.
According to Chandy, a decision on accepting the resignation of Mani loyalist Thomas Unniyadan, Government chief whip, would also be taken in consultation with Mani.