Congress’ V D Satheesan on Monday took oath as Kerala’s chief minister, with Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar administering the oath of office to the Congress Legislative Party leader.
Besides Satheesan, members of his 20-member Cabinet are also took oath at a grand function being held here at the Central Stadium, where top grand old party leaders including Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, his deputy DK Shivakumar, Telangana CM A Revanth Reddy, his deputy Bharti Vikramarka Mallu, Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu were also in attendance.
Congress 11 rely elected MLAs were sworn in as Ministers in the Cabinet – Ramesh Chennithala, Sunny Joseph, K. Muraleedharan, A.P. Anil Kumar, P.C. Vishnunadh, T. Siddique, Bindu Krishna, K.A. Thulasi, Roji M. John, M. Liju and O.J. Janeesh.
Five Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) MLAs — P.K. Kunhalikutty, N. Shamsudeen, K.M. Shaji, P.K. Basheer and V.E. Abdul Gafoor – were also sworn in as Ministers.
Mons Joseph from Kerala Congress (Joseph), Shibu Baby John of the Revolutionary Socialist Party, Anoop Jacob from Kerala Congress (Jacob) and C.P. John of the Communist Marxist Party are the Ministers-designate from the other coalition partners in the UDF.
There are 14 new faces in the Cabinet, including Chief Minister Satheesan, who is holding a government position for the first time despite being elected from Paravur since 2001.
The Cabinet includes two women and two members from the Scheduled Caste community.
CMP leader John and IUML leaders Shamsuddin, Shaji, Basheer and Gafoor are also among the new faces in the Cabinet.
While Congress leaders Vishnunadh, M John, Krishna, Siddique, Thulasi and Janeesh are also among the first-time ministers.
What was surprising at the Central Stadium the presence of outgoing Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who now takes over as the Leader of the Opposition, on stage, alongside BJP State President Rajeev Chandrasekhar, clearly displaying the democratic transition in the southern state.
According to sources, Satheesan is expected to retain the Finance and Ports portfolios, while senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala is likely to handle the Home department along with Vigilance. Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Sunny Joseph is expected to be allocated the Revenue portfolio.
The UDF secured a massive mandate in the recently concluded elections, winning 102 seats in the 140-member Kerala Assembly and ending the LDF’s 10-year rule.
Satheesan, who served as the Leader of the Opposition in the assembly over the last five years, was widely credited as the chief architect of this comeback.
The Congress had named Satheesan as chief ministerial face after days of deliberate high-command discussions involving other state heavyweights like KC Venugopal and Ramesh Chennithala.