Pinarayi Vijayan has on Thursday sworn in as the Chief Minister of Kerala for the second consecutive term but with many firsts. Amid the dissent from across the state for dropping off the rockstar health minister KK Shailaja in his second cabinet, the 76-year-old Marxist communist veteran was unfazed by his decision and went on to form the cabinet with new faces as Kerala writes history in Vijayan's reign.

The ruling LDF had no room for an anti-incumbency wave as it had secured a landslide victory by sweeping 99 seats in a 140-member assembly in the western state that yet another time proved to be a Leftist citadel. Though the election results were announced on May 2, Pinarayi Vijayan took nearly three weeks to form the new government. The swearing-in ceremony was held as a low profile event in Trivandrum and Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan had administered the oath of office and secrecy to Pinarayi Vijayan. 

Vijayan has become the Chief Minister for the second consecutive term and following him, 20 ministers had taken the oath to Vijayan's cabinet. Taking to Twitter, Pinarayi Vijayan said, "Took the oaths of office and secrecy, as the Chief Minister of Kerala. Together, let us realize a people's alternative, and build a Nava Keralam." He has taken the oath two days after CPI(M) state committee had appointed him as the party leader in the assembly and Kerala's Chief Minister.  

The ceremony was kept as a low-key event owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and earlier, Vijayan has said, "The cabinet consists of 21 people and the invitees include 140 legislators, 29 MPs, the judiciary, media, and top officials. All those who are coming should have a Covid negative test result taken 48 hours or should have taken both doses of the vaccine." The new ministers include Vijayan's son-in-law Mohammed Riyas, MV Govidhan, Veena George, K Radhakrishnan, P Rajeev, Sivankutty, and Abdul Rahman. 

While Vijayan had faced massive flak for dropping off KK Shailaja, former health minister, who was praised for Covid handling, from the cabinet, he has picked Veena George, a former journalist and CPM leader, as the new Health Minister of Kerala to tackle the second wave of the pandemic. One of the historical milestones of Vijayan's second cabinet is his decision of appointing a Dalit leader as the minister for Hindu Affairs. It is the first time in Kerala that a leader from the minority community has been nominated to take care of the affairs of Kerala's Devaswom Board. 

Senior CPM leader K Radhakrishnan will be the new Minister of Devaswom Board. As a member of the CPM central committee, Radhakrishnan was elected from the Chelakkara constituency in the Thrissur district in the recently-held elections with a margin of around 40,000 votes. Besides holding the Assembly Speaker post in 2006, Radhakrishnan has also served as the minister of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Affairs in the EK Narayanan ministry. 

Radhakrishnan's appointment as the Minister for Devaswom Board has come when the department was under controversy. During the previous tenure of the Vijaya's administration, the Devaswom ministry had met with outrage after allowing the entry of women into the Sabarimala temple based on the verdict from the apex court. After the swearing-in on Thursday, the Chief Minister and his cabinet ministers had reached the Raj Bhavan where they attended a tea party hosted by the Governor.

After the tea party, they had arrived at the Chief Secretariat and tabled the first meeting at 5.30 pm. On Saturday, the assembly will meet again to elect the Speaker for the 15th Kerala Assembly. While it is the first time that a minority leader will head a top department, it is also the first time that the Kerala Assembly will have a father-in-law and son-in-law in the house together as Pinarayi Vijayan's son-in-law Mohammed Riyas has sworn in as the minister. 

While KK Shailaja dropped off from Pinarayi Vijayan's cabinet amid securing a victory in a huge margin in the state, she has been appointed as the party's whip in the legislative assembly. There were resentments and demands from across the state to induct Shailaja into the ministry. However, Pinarayi Vijayan has addressed the demand by appointing another woman, Veena George, as the new health minister. As Pinarayi Vijayan has sworn in as the Chief Minister, Prime Minister Modi took to Twitter and wrote, "Congratulations to Pinarayi Vijayan on taking oath as CM and commencing his second term in office."

Took the oaths of office and secrecy, as the Chief Minister of Kerala. Together, let us realise a people's alternative, and build a Nava Keralam! pic.twitter.com/zMnm0VsJQa

— Pinarayi Vijayan (@vijayanpinarayi) May 20, 2021