The swearing-in of the Kerala government led by Pinarayi Vijayan is likely to be held after May 20 due to Covid-19 crisis. The decision was taken following a meeting with the Politburo members of the CPM in Kerala. The Pinarayi government came into power for the first time on May 25, 2016.
The CPM has reportedly agreed to complete talks regarding the formation of the Cabinet before taking the oath. According to reports, the LDF will meet to decide on parties and the number of ministers they will have. Following this, the CPM State Secretariat and later the CPM State Committee will meet at the AKG centre, Thiruvananthapuram. At the same time, it is reported that CPI and CPM will convene meetings to select ministers before considering other allies.
Also, reports suggest that new faces will be considering while Cabinet formation. The probable list of ministers include KK Shailaja, MV Govindan, K Radhakrishnan, VN Vasavan, P Rajeev, KN Balagopal, Saji Cherian, V Sivankutty, CH Kunjambu, PP Chitharanjan, P Nandakumar, Veena George, MB Rajesh, Kanathil Jameela, R Bindu, Muhammad Riyas or AN Shamseer.
According to reports, the swearing-in ceremony will take place in a simple manner due to the Covid-19 protocol. Also,reportedly, discussions are underway over the participation of relatives of the ministers in the event. It was decided to reduce the number of people to as many as possible as the state is witnessing a surge in Covid cases.
Pinarayi Vijayan won the Kerala Assembly election with a huge margin of 50,123 votes from his home turf Dharmadam in Kannur district. In a historic victory, the ruling Pinarayi government rode back to power for the second term. The LDF won 99 out of 140 seats in the Kerala Assembly elections bucking the four-decade-long trend of Communists and Congress-led UDF coming to power alternatively.
The election result was a huge blow to the opposition, which was hoping to regain power. However, it could amass only 41 seats, while BJP lost the battle.
