Shailaja’s name was certain after she won with the highest recorded margin of victory in the state from the Mattannur assembly seat in her home town Kannur with over 60,000 votes, reports Asian Lite News
Former Health Minister K.K. Shailaja on Tuesday got a rude shock, after the speculation in political circles that she will be the only outgoing Minister who would get another term in the Kerala cabinet, when it became clear that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has got the green signal to go for a new team.
In the crucial State Committee meeting of the CPI-M held here on Tuesday she saw just seven seeking a second term for her, with the remaining almost 70 giving Vijayan the freedom to go for a new team.
Emerging from the party meeting Shailaja was quiet for a while but finally broke her silence and said there is no need for anyone to get emotional about this.
“It was the CPI-M which made me a Minister and all what I did during the five year period is not my merit. It was because of the excellent team work. Also it’s not me alone who has been left out. None of my party colleagues who were Ministers has been selected this time. I am sure the new person will be able to perform better than me,” said Shailaja before bidding good bye to the media here.
Shailaja’s name was certain after she won with the highest recorded margin of victory in the state from the Mattannur assembly seat in her home town Kannur with over 60,000 votes.
All through till Tuesday morning the news going around was that it would only be Shailaja who will get another term. She could be given a promotion and might be appointed the Speaker and would become the first woman in the state to occupy that chair. That also failed to materialise as the party chose M. B. Rajesh.
As soon as the word spread that Shailaja has been dropped, numerous trolls came out criticising the decision.
Soon came the defence of Politburo member M.A. Baby who said the people voted in the state for the Left government.
“The decision was unanimous that there can be a new team and just look Ministers like M. M. Mani and four others like Shailaja were not renominated. So it was a decision which was implemented. Just look, five seasoned veteran Ministers were not given a seat. I am optimistic that just like the people in Kerala accepted dropping so many sitting legislators, they will accept this decision also,” said Baby.
Meanwhile the national leadership of the party has conveyed its displeasure at the manner in which Shailaja was dropped, but given the present stature of Vijayan all this is likely to die down soon.
Vijayan’s customary press meet to announce the day’s Covid figures did not take place on Tuesday evening, knowing that there will be a few uncomfortable questions.
The speculation now is that Shailaja in a few months will be appointed to be the first woman State Secretary of the CPI-M. For that to happen, one will have to wait when the red party sits down to decide on the next State Conference scheduled to be held early next year.
Pinarayi 2.0
Returning to an unprecedented second term in power, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday unveiled his new team, which jettisons all sitting ministers from his CPI-M, and consists of a mix of youth and experience, besides giving adequate representation to women, caste, communities and religion.
The team consists of three women – all first time ministers. They include two from the CPI-M – journalist-turned-two-time legislator Veena George, who is the wife of present CPI-M Secretary A. Vijayaraghavan, college professor R. Bindu and J. Chinchurani, the first woman from the CPI, after the Communist Party split in 1964.
The entire team will be sworn in on Thursday here at the Central Stadium by Governor Arif Mohammed Khan at 3.30 pm.
Former Speaker K. Radhakrishnan, who now becomes a minister, is from Scheduled Caste community. A minister in the 1996-2001 E.K.Nayanar cabinet, he was Speaker from 2006-11 when V.S. Achuthanandan was the Chief Minister.
Then there are P. Rajiv and K.N. Balagopal, both in their early fifties and have been members of the Rajya Sabha, and then there is the seasoned Central Committee member M.V. Govindan, who hails from Kannur and is seen as the right-hand man of Vijayan.
V.N.Vasavan, Saji Cherian and V. Sivankutty are proven organisers and have proved their mettle in the party.
The dark horse in the cabinet is Vijayan’s son-in-law P.A. Mohammed Riyaz, who is also the national President of the CPI-M’s youth wing, DYFI.
Riyaz married Vijayan’s daughter Veena Vijayan last year. It was the second marriage for both.
Another Muslim face in Vijayan’s second government is V. Abdurahiman, of the National Secular Conference, a party which has the blessings of the CPI-M but is formally not an ally.
From the Communist Party of India, all four nominees – Chinchurani, P. Prasad, G.R. Anil and K. Rajan – are new faces.
While Rajan was the chief whip in the outgoing assembly, the other three are first time legislators.
From the Janata Dal-S, there is seasoned veteran K. Krishnankutty and from the NCP, it is another veteran A.K. Saseendran. Both were Ministers in the outgoing Vijayan cabinet.
New ally Kerala Congress-Mani’s nominee is Roshy Augustine, a five-time legislator. The party was a member of the Congress-led UDF, before switching over to the Left Democratic Front last year.
Antony Raju of the Democratic Kerala Congress is also a veteran politician hailing from the coastal village in the capital city and a popular face. He had been a legislator during 1996 to 2001.
Then there is Ahamed Devarkoil from the Indian National League, an ally of the Left, and given a cabinet post for the first time.
The Speaker’s post has gone to two-time CPI-M Lok Sabha member M.P. Rajesh, whose stock fell when he lost the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. He was further in trouble when an allegation surfaced recently in the way how his wife managed to get a teaching job, but he emerged triumphant in the Assembly polls.
The Deputy Speaker’s post has gone to senior CPI legislator Chitayem Gopakumar and the Chief Whip’s post goes to Kerala Congress-M’s four-time legislator N.Jayaraj.
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