BEIRUT: Tourism Minister Fadi Abboud ruled out Tuesday the possibility of his colleague Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas being reassigned to a different post in government.

“The suggestion of replacing Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas’ portfolio is out of the question,” Abboud, a member of MP Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement, told Voice of Lebanon radio station.

Nahhas, a member of Aoun’s bloc, has refused to sign a decree on transportation allowances, contending that it should first be made legal by Parliament. President Michel Sleiman has said that Nahhas must sign the decree or else be replaced.

Meanwhile, MP Alain Aoun, another member of Aoun's parliamentary bloc, has said that Nahhas will not sign the decree before the resumption of Cabinet meetings, which Prime Minister Najib Mikati recently suspended over the transportation bill brouhaha and other contentious issues.

In remarks to Voice of Lebanon radio station, Aoun also said that disagreements within the Cabinet had more to do with the issue of appointments than the transportation bill. The Free Patriotic Movement considers itself the main Christian party in Lebanon and wants Mikati to consult it before naming appointees to key public sector posts traditionally reserved for Christians.

Nevertheless, Aoun said he was satisfied with Mikati's recent proposals for resolving the impasse over the transportation bill.