Thiruvananthapuram, May 25 (PTI): CPI(M) strongman Pinarayi Vijayan was on Wednesday sworn in as chief minister of Kerala, heading a 19-member ministry of the Left Democratic Front(LDF), which has 13 new faces including two women.
Vijayan, 72, who pipped his bitter party rival V.S. Achuthanandan to the top post in Kerala politics, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Justice (Retd) P.Sathasivam at the Central Stadium here.
Hailing from a poor toddy tapper's family, Vijayan, a first time chief minister, took the oath in Malayalam. A member of the politburo of the Communist Party of India(Marxist), he is the 12th chief minister of Kerala.
Out of the 19-member cabinet, 12 including the chief minister are from CPI(M), 4 from the Communist Party of India, one each from Nationalist Congress Party, Janata Dal(S) and Congress(S). The outgoing Congress-led United Democratic Front had 21 ministers.
There are 13 new faces, including two women, in the Cabinet. Five ministers had held positions in previous LDF ministries.
The CPI(M)-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. CCTVs erected at various places enabled the large crowd, who had gathered to view the ceremony streamed live.
The slight drizzle failed to dampen the spirits of the party workers who had arrived in buses and other vehicles from various parts of the state, especially the northern districts of Kasaragod, Kannur and Kozhikode, to witness the swearing-in ceremony, which began at 4pm.
In 2006, the swearing in of then Chief Minister V.S. Achutanandan and his cabinet colleague was held outside the Raj Bhavan.
Among those present were former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, former Chief Ministers Oommen Chandy, V.S. Achutanandan, CPI(M) General Secretary Seetharam Yechury, Prakash Karat, K.R. Gowri Amma, 97, who was Revenue minister in the EMS Namboodiripad cabinet of 1957, former union minister and lone member of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the assembly, O.Rajagopal.
