Thiruvananthapuram: Communist Party of India Marxist politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan took over as the 22nd chief minister of Kerala after the swearing-in ceremony at the Central Stadium here on Wednesday evening, watched by roughly 25,000 people.
Governor P. Sathasivam administered the oath of office to Vijayan and his team, flagging in the 14th ministry of the state.
The elevation to the post of chief minister is the latest milestone in a virtual fairy tale career for Vijayan, who faced police brutality during the Emergency in India in the late 1970s and later spoke in the state assembly as a young MLA, showing his bloodstained shirt to prove the brutality he faced in prison.
Besides holding the chief minister’s post, the 72-year-old Vijayan will also be in charge of the home, vigilance and IT departments.
Besides Vijayan, 11 CPM MLAs were sworn in as ministers. The other ministers were from the Communist Party of India (4), Congress (S), Janata Dal (S) and the NCP (one minister each).
A highlight of the cabinet is that it has two women, a first for any Kerala government. The two women ministers are J. Mercykutty Amma who will handle fisheries and traditional industries, and K.K. Shailaja who will be the minister for health and social welfare.
Kerala is the only major state in India which has more women than men, but in the previous 21 ministries, only 12 had women, each of them featuring a lone female minister.
For those who could not be inside the stadium to watch the proceedings first-hand, closed circuit television screens were placed outside the stadium and at some strategic points nearby for comfortable viewing.
Among the VIPs attending the function were former prime minister, H.D. Deve Gowda, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury and his party colleagues, Prakash Karat and V.S. Achuthanandan.
As expected, T.M. Thomas Isaac is the finance minister, while E.P. Jayarajan was given the industry and sports portfolios. A.K. Balan will handle law, T.P. Ramakrishnan was given the excise portfolio and C. Ravindranath will handle education.
G. Sudhakaran is the new public works department minister, A.C. Moideen will be in charge of tourism and Kadakampally Surendran will be the electricity minister, a portfolio that Vijayan had handled in the 1990s in the E.K. Nayanar ministry.
The others sworn in were Mathew T. Thomas (JD-S), Kadanapally Ramachandran (Congress-S) and A.K. Saseendran (NCP).
