Pinarayi 2.0 is officially in. Kerala’s Left Front that won a historic second consecutive term in power has chosen to entrust the governance of the state to a team that is almost entirely new—save for three ministers, including the CM. If the Pinarayi Vijayan government’s last tenure was about dealing with a series of tough challenges—from back-to-back floods to viral outbreaks to the financial crisis—the task of governance is not going to get any easier this time around too as the challenges have only grown in enormity. While the ruling front’s bold decision to try out new hands in the ministry deserves to be appreciated, and should be seen as an example for other parties and formations, the new administration could sorely miss the services of some able ministers who contributed greatly to the credibility and image of the previous government.
There are two concerns the new government cannot simply ignore at the moment—the prevailing health-cum-humanitarian crisis and the state’s dire financial situation. Kerala has a new health minister in the form of a young Veena George, but she has the big shoes of K K Shailaja to fill and that itself could prove daunting enough. On her has fallen the responsibility of navigating Kerala through the debilitating impact of a deadly second wave of the pandemic and then preparing it for an imminent third wave. New Finance Minister K N Balagopal will have to start where his predecessor Thomas Isaac left off. Dealing with an economy characterised by shrinking revenues and galloping expenditures, Balagopal will find the going tough. While he must immediately focus his attention on gathering resources for a demanding Covid fight and managing the impact on the economy, his long-term task will be to pull the state out of the debt trap it has fallen into.
The coming days will see Team Pinarayi tested in many ways. Its inexperienced ministers will be compared with their illustrious predecessors. It’s the performance of the last five years that won the government a second term. The CM, given his experience, would know that he cannot rest on his laurels and needs his team to do well so that his second term doesn’t slide on the performance scale. He must ensure his new team doesn’t fail.
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