THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It’s Thiruvonam! Taking a break from their busy public schedule, political leaders across the state will celebrate the auspicious day with their family. Though most leaders have already reached their native places, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and wife Kamala Vijayan have decided to stay put at the CM’s official residence at Cliff House in Thiruvananthapuram,.
“We decided against going to Pinarayi in Kannur this year,” Kamala told TNIE. On Malabar people’s preference for having non-vegetarian dishes for Onam, she said, “It’s true people in the Malabar region prefer having a non-vegetarian Onasadya. However, we will have a vegetarian sadya here,” she said.
The couple will be joined by daughter T Veena and her husband and Public Works Minister P A Mohamed Riyas, who stay at ‘Pamba’ on the Cliff House premises. Riyas had posted a picture of him with Veena, who has been embroiled in the monthly installment row, on X (formerly Twitter), wishing everyone a ‘Happy Onam.’
CPM state secretary M V Govindan is in Kannur for Onam. He said his two sons have also come home and the family will celebrate the festival with a non-vegetarian sadya. “Among sadya items, I love ‘olan’ the most. I also relish fish and meat dishes. There will be some non-vegetarian dishes on the plantain leaf when sadya is served,” he told TNIE. “Since I am diabetic, I will have just a little bit of payasam,” he said with a chuckle.
Congress Working Committee leader A K Antony, who is celebrating his first Thiruvonam in Thiruvananthapuram since relocating from New Delhi, said they will have a ‘readymade Onam.’
“For the first time, we decided to buy an entire Onasadya kit from a caterer at Poojappura. My sons Anil and Ajit, and my wife Elizabeth will have the traditional sadya at Anjanam,” the Congress veteran said. As for Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan, he, along with wife Lakshmi Priya and daughter Unnimaya, will have Onasadya in his ancestral home in Maradu.
“I’m the only one among my six siblings who does not stay at the ancestral house. Among sadya items, I simply love the tanginess and the sweetness of ‘mambazha pulissery’,” he told TNIE.
Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala, who rushed to Thiruvananthapuram after a busy day of campaigning in Puthuppally for the bypoll, told TNIE that he and his family will celebrate Onam at his sister Uma’s house at Eenchakkal where his mother Devaki Amma, 84, is staying.
“My younger son Ramit and his wife will be celebrating their first Onam together after marriage. My son Dr Rohit, his wife Dr Sheeja, their son Rohan, and my wife Anitha will have Onasadya with my mother,” he said.
BJP state president K Surendran, who reached his home in Kozhikode after 22 days on Monday, said he will celebrate Onam with his wife Sheeba, son Harikrishnan, daughter-in-law Dilna and granddaughter Gayatri Devi, besides a couple of friends who will join them for lunch.
QUIET LUNCH FOR SUDHAKARAN
Congress state president K Sudhakaran, who has reached his house at Nadal in Kannur, will not be celebrating Onam this year, on account of the passing of wife Smitha’s uncle. With their sons unable to make it from Coimbatore and Palakkad, the couple has opted for a quiet lunch.