Kerala Congress-B, a constituent in the ruling UDF, today stuck to the stand that its nominee in the cabinet K B Ganesh Kumar should adhere to party directives if he wished to continue in the Congress-led ministry headed by Oommen Chandy.
KC-B chairman and Kumar's father R Balakrishna Pillai told reporters after the party secretariat meeting here that he would wait till the next meeting of the UDF slated for April 2 before taking a final decision on his letter to the UDF leadership seeking the removal of Kumar for not toeing the party line.
The Front leaders had informed the party that the matter could be settled before the next UDF meeting, Pillai said.
"The minister will be allowed to continue if he agrees to work under the directions of the party. He should act in accordance with party interests like nominees of other parties in the ministry," Pillai said.
Pillai said if the minister agreed to this, the party would not stand in the way of unity and the broad interests of the ruling combine. "I expect that there will be a thaw in the strained relations between the party and the minister."
Kumar had recently come under a cloud over his alleged extra-marital affair which was disclosed by government Chief Whip P C George, seizing on a newspaper report that a minister was beaten up by the husband of a woman with whom he had an affair.
George said the person mentioned in the report was Kumar, who denied the allegation.
