Thiruvananthapuram, May 29 (IANS) The Congress party's Kerala unit has overlooked merit and experience in selecting its nine ministers in the 20-member Oomen Chandy cabinet, a senior party legislator said Sunday.

 
 "One of the best performing legislator from the Congress in the past five years was V.D. Sateeshan. His performance has been applauded by one and all. But when it came to selecting ministers, he was not considered," three time Congress legislator T.N. Prathapan said.
 
 This is not the first time questions have been raised regarding the ministerial selections in the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government.
 
 K. Muraleedharan, son of late Congress veteran K. Karunakaran, and senior party leader V.M. Sudheeran too have criticised the choice of ministers.
 
 The UDF has 72 members and the opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) 68 in the Kerala assembly, giving the ruling coalition only a slender majority.