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Updated May 19th, 2021 at 09:20 IST

BJP fires 'nepotism' charge as Pinarayi Vijayan's son-in-law finds place in Kerala Cabinet

The furore over the new Kerala Cabinet picks continued on Tuesday as BJP state president K Surendran dubbed Pinarayi Vijayan's new team as a "kitchen cabinet".

Reported by: Akhil Oka
BJP, Kerala
Image: PTI/Facebook | Image:self
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The furore over the new Kerala Cabinet picks continued on Tuesday as BJP state president K Surendran labelled Pinarayi Vijayan's new team as a "kitchen cabinet". In an indirect reference to the induction of the CM's son-in-law PA Mohammed Riyas into the Cabinet, Surendran accused CPI(M) of propagating nepotism. Moreover, he lamented that there is no representation for Kasargod and Wayanad in the Cabinet despite both districts lagging behind in terms of development. The swearing-in ceremony of the new government will be held at 3.30 pm on May 20 at the Central Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram with 500 persons in attendance.

Massive shake-up in Cabinet

In an unexpected development, Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja will not be a part of Pinarayi Vijayan's Cabinet as he commences his second term as the CM. This comes even as she received international recognition for leading the state's successful response against COVID-19. In fact, all other sitting Ministers have been dropped as well. The new Cabinet, thus, will have 11 Ministers- MV Govindan, K Radhakrishnan, KN Balagopal, P Rajeev, VN Vasavan, Saji Cherian, V Sivankutty, Vijayan's son-in-law Mohammad Riyas, Dr R Bindu, Veena George and V Abdul Rahman. While Shailaja will now function as the party whip in the Legislative Assembly. LDF has zeroed in on ex-Lok Sabha MP MB Rajesh for the Speaker's post. 

LDF creates history in Kerala

The polling for the 2021 state Assembly polls was held on April 6 with an impressive voter turnout of 74.06 per cent. After a hard-fought election campaign, LDF created history by becoming the first incumbent government in Kerala in nearly four decades to get re-elected. The tally of UDF, buoyed by its performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls where it won 19 out of 20 seats in the state, was reduced to 41 seats.

In contrast, LDF bagged 99 out of 140 seats, 8 more than the 2016 election. UDF's vote share of 39.47% could not pose a challenge to the ruling alliance which garnered a vote share of 45.43%. In a shocking reversal for BJP, it not only won fewer votes as compared to 2016 but also failed to retain its lone seat- Nemom. While Kerala BJP president K Surendran lost from both Konni and Manjeshwar, 'Metroman' E Sreedharan could not secure a victory in the Palakkad seat. 

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Published May 19th, 2021 at 09:20 IST

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