Satheesan's 'Team UDF'| A mixed bag of seniors to freshers and second generation politicians

Thiruvananthapuram: From senior to freshers and first timers to second generation politicians, the V D Satheesan Cabinet offers a mixed bag of leaders.

In the 21 member Cabinet, 14 including Satheesan, are freshers, whereas there are leaders like Ramesh Chennithala, A P Anilkumar and P K Kunhalikutty with rich experience.

Three from Wayanad LS constituency

Apart from Anilkumar, who is a former minister and sixth-time MLA from Wandoor in Malappuram, there are two other ministers from the assembly constituencies in the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat represented by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, which spread of three districts - Wayanad, Malappuram and Kozhikode.

T Siddique is a second time MLA from Kalpetta in Wayanad. He had served as a working president of Kerala PCC. Siddique was initially selected as the Congress candidate at Wayanad in 2019 Lok Sabha election. But later Congress top leader Rahul Gandhi decided to contest from Wayanad along with Amethi.

IUML's P K Basheer is a fourth-time MLA from Eranad in Malappuram, which is also part of the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat.

Second generation leaders

K Muraleedharan, who is a former MLA and MP and also a former Kerala PCC president, is the son of former Chief Minister and political stalwart K Karunakaran. Muraleedharan won from a tightly contested Vattiyoorkavu seat in Thiruvananthapuram.

Shibu Baby John, who is a former minister, is the son of one of the founder members of RSP, Baby John - who was widely known as 'Kerala Kissinger' for his political strategies. Chavara in Kollam is the home turf of the father and the son.

Anoop Jacob, a third time MLA and former minister, is the son of former minister and founder leader of Kerala Congress (Jacob) T M Jacob. It was after Jacob's death that Anoop succeeded him at Piravom near Kochi.

While IUML's P K Basheer is the son of former MLA P Seethi Haji, another minister from IUML V E Abdul Gafoor is the son of former minister V K Ebrahim Kunju. Gafoor, who is a lawyer by profession, has been an active member in the IUML and he defeated CPM senior leader and former industry minister P Rajeev at Kalamaserry in Kochi.

Seasoned politicians

Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala is undoubtedly the senior most person with regard to political career. Chennithala, who is now 69, became minister at the age of 30 in 1986 and still holds the record of being the youngest minister in Kerala. He lost the race to the CM post twice and served as Home Minister from 2014 to 2016 in the previous Congress ministry led by Oommen Chandy.This time also he is likely to get the home portfolio.

Kerala PCC president Sunny Joseph is a fourth time MLA from Peravoor in Kannur. His victory in this election assumed more significance as he defeated former health minister K K Shailaja that too by increasing the victory margin by over 10,000 votes.

P K Kunhalikutty, the top leader of IUML, is a four time minister. He won with the highest margin of 85,327 in this election. Being industries and IT minister in the previous UDF ministries, he was considered as one of the best performing ministers. There was even a campaign from certain sections that he may be made the Chief Minister.

C P John, who is a first time MLA from Thiruvananthapuram, is a former CPM activist. He switched over to the Communist Marxist Party formed by M V Raghavan following ideological differences with CPM. John, who is a widely respected person, had earlier served as state planning board member.

First timer women MLAs makes it to the cabinet

The two women in the Cabinet, Bindu Krishna and K A Thulasi, despite being first time MLAs, come with a rich political career. Both are also of the same age, 53.

While Krishna was Mahila Congress state president and Kollam district Congress committee president, Thulasi, who is the wife of Congress MP K Sreekandan, was also a Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary and served as Kerala women's commission member and Thrissur district panchayat members. Both had earlier unsuccessfully contested elections earlier.

Youngsters mark generation shift

The youngest among the freshers is 37 year old O J Janeesh, who is state president of Youth Congress. Janeesh, who won from Kodungallor in Thrissur, was actively involved in the stirs against the previous left-front government. His entry to the Cabinet was quite surprising.

The presence of Congress leaders like P C Vishnunath - a fourth time MLA from Kundara in Kollam , Roji M John - a third time MLA and former president of NSUI, M Liju from Kayamkularm and T Siddique from Kalpetta in the cabinet literally marks a generation shift in the Congress.