CPI(M) legislator Kelu sworn-in as Kerala minister

Wayanad district in Kerala on Sunday got representation in the state cabinet for the first time in eight years after OR Kelu took the oath of office at the Raj Bhavan.
In the presence of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, the Mananthavady MLA was administered the oath by governor Arif Mohammed Khan at a function around 4 pm on Sunday.
In his first decision as minister, Kelu launched the “online treatment assistance disbursal” system for the Scheduled Tribes community in the state.
On the issue of human-animal conflict in the district, Kelu said the department will coordinate with the MLAs, the MP, the state and the central governments and take joint efforts to resolve the issue.
Kelu, who belongs to the Kurichiya tribe (ST) and is a member of the CPI(M), is expected to handle the department of welfare of SCs, STs and backward classes.
The 53-year-old is a two-time MLA from Mananthavady and has served as a member of block panchayat and the president of the Tirunelli panchayat in the past. He is also the current state president of the tribal wing of the CPI(M).
Kelu has been inducted into the cabinet to fill the vacancy of K Radhakrishnan who resigned last week after being elected to the Lok Sabha from Alathur. Kelu, the only tribal member in the cabinet, is also the only legislator of the party in Wayanad district.
Briefing reporters after the swearing-in, minister Kelu said, “I will work to implement the ongoing policies of the LDF government and the work that was started by Radhakrishnan. The human-animal conflict in Wayanad is among the pressing issues there and it needs a long-term strategy and collective effort to find solutions.”
CPI(M) central committee member and former Kerala minister K Radhakrishnan justified the Left Democratic Front’s (LDF) decision not to give the Devaswom portfolio, which had been handled by him, to party MLA O R Kelu.
Talking to a television channel, Radhakrishnan said irrespective of portfolios, what is more important is his entry into the state cabinet as a minister.
“As far Kelu is concerned, it is for the first time that a person belonging to the tribal community is becoming a minister. We should see that merit first,” he said.
He also said there might be differences in the portfolio but what is more important is that he could become a minister from Wayanad.
Radhakrishnan said newcomers should become capable of handling the portfolios assigned to them and the present portfolio is entrusted with Kelu with an expectation that he would handle it well.
The Congress-led opposition UDF on Saturday said it was a wrong decision on the part of the LDF government to not give the Devaswom portfolio to Kelu.
Leader of Opposition in the assembly VD Satheesan said chief minister Vijayan who rightly opposed the non-appointment of Congress MP Kodikunnil Suresh as pro-tem Speaker in the Lok Sabha, took a different stand when it came to Kelu. “That is a wrong decision. The state government showed the same attitude in Kelu’s case as the Centre did when it did not make Suresh, the senior most MP in the Lok Sabha, the pro-tem Speaker,” he said.
With Agency inputs