Muslim League youths marched to the residence of the state Congress chief Ramesh Chennithala, in Alappuzha and tried to break up a Youth Congress rally near the League general secretary E. T. Mohammed Basheer’s house in Malappuram on Tuesday as if to apply ‘street pressure’ on the UDF to clinch the League demand for the fifth minister.
The League-YC tussle had its echo in hectic parleys among UDF leaders ahead of the crucial meeting scheduled on Wednesday to settle issues nagging the 11-month-old ministry.
Amid media speculation on different formulae to end the UDF logjam, there’s certainty only on one issue: Chennithala, has ruled himself out of the Cabinet.
Yet another certainty, according to the KC (Jacob) chairman Johnny Nellore, is that Anoop Jacob will “be sworn in around Vishu’’.
The UDF worked around the formula to offer Speaker or a Rajya Sabha seat, besides the Norka chairmanship, to the League. League insiders say the party is “optimistic”.