KOZHIKODE:A K Saseendran was calm and kept smiling on Sunday, while he announced his resignation as Transport Minister in front of mediapersons at the Kozhikode Government Guest House.
He is the second minister to quit the LDF cabinet after E P Jayarajan. His resignation, immediately following allegations that he had an obscene phone conversation with a woman, was an attempt to avert any damage headed towards his party and front.
Since he assumed office 10 months back, Saseendran was set to reform the KSRTC to save the fund-starved corporation.
With his departure, Kozhikode lost the privilege of having two ministers in the LDF Cabinet.
A minister considered by many as being loyal to his constituency Elathur and the entire district, Saseendran was a familiar face in all public programmes.
Born and brought up in Kannur, Saseendran represented his home district twice and the Kozhikode district thrice in the Assembly. His stint as an MLA began in 1980 with him bagging an Assembly seat from Peringalam. In 1982, he won from Edakkad. After consecutive losses in 1987 and 1991 in Kannur, he bounced back in 2006 by defeating the UDF candidate in the Balussery Assembly constituency. In 2011 and 2016, he secured an easy win from the Elathur constituency. He made his debut to politics through KSU and held several district and state level posts of the Youth Congress.
Saseendran was with former Defence Minister A K Antony when the latter stood with the Left in 1980. When Antony decided to return to Congress later, Saseendran broke away and strongly opposed Antony’s move to withdraw support from the E K Nayanar regime.