THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Senior CPM leader and Health Minister KK Shailaja, who shot to international fame with her exceptional handling of Kerala's fight against Nipah and COVID-19, won't be part of the second Pinarayi cabinet.
The CPM sprang a surprise in the formation of the cabinet with all the ministers from the party being freshers, except for Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Shailaja, who was almost sure to make it to the cabinet, is the most prominent exclusion.
The CPM state committee, which met here on Tuesday, has gone for a generational shift in the case of ministers and decided not to exempt Shailaja from this decision. The decision is sure to invite criticism from different corners.
Though Shailaja was dropped, two women have found a place in the cabinet - Irinjalakuda MLA Professor R Bindu and Aranmula MLA Veena George. Professor Bindu is the wife of CPM secretary in-charge A Vijayaraghavan.
Others who found a place in the cabinet are central committee members MV Govindan, K Radhakrishnan, state secretariat members KN Balagopal, P Rajeev in addition to senior leaders VN Vasavan, Saji Cheriyan, V Sivankutty, Mohammed Riyaz and V Abdul Rahman. DYFI national leader Riyaz is also the son-in-law of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Senior leader and former MP MB Rajesh, who won from Thrithala defeating Congress' young turk VT Balram, will be the new Speaker.
Shailaja has been named as party whip.
Fresh faces find place in CPI list too
The CPI too finalised its four ministers in the second Pinarayi government. Cherthala MLA P Prasad, Ollur MLA K Rajan, Chadayamangalam MLA J Chinjurani and Nedumangad MLA GR Anil are the party's ministerial nominees. Adoor MLA Chittayam Gopakumar has been finalised as party nominee for Deputy Speaker.