Vijayan takes oath as Kerala CM

Thiruvananthapuram, May 25

CPM strongman Pinarayi Vijayan was today sworn in as the Chief Minister of Kerala heading a 19-member ministry of the party-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) that had 13 new faces, including two women.

Vijayan (72), who pipped his party rival VS Achuthanandan to the top post in Kerala politics, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Justice P Sathasivam (retd) at the Central Stadium here.

Hailing from a poor toddy tapper’s family, Vijayan, a first-time CM, took the oath in Malayalam. A CPM Politburo member, he is the 12th Chief Minister of Kerala.

Of the 19-member Cabinet, 12, including the CM, are from CPM, four from CPI, one each from NCP, Janata Dal(S) and Congress(S). The outgoing Congress-led UDF had 21 ministers.

There are 13 new faces, including two women, in the Cabinet. Five ministers had held positions in previous LDF ministries. The CPM-LDF had unseated the Congress-led UDF by securing 91 seats in the 140-member House in the May 16 Assembly polls. A huge pandal to accommodate at least 30,000 persons was put up at the stadium, adjacent to the state Secretariat.

Slight drizzle failed to dampen the spirits of the party workers who had arrived from various parts of the state. — PTI