Roshy Augustine and Okay Rajan — Once classmates, now Cabinet colleagues
2 min read Express News Service
KOCHI: They have been classmates, learning classes of legislation collectively. Amid their hectic schedule of scholar politics, heated debates have been the norm. For they belonged to rival political fronts. But the turns their journeys took have introduced them collectively once more. Now, they’re colleagues within the second Pinarayi Vijayan cabinet that was sworn in on Thursday.
Roshy Augustine, the water sources minister, and Okay Rajan, the income minister, have been LLB classmates on the Law Academy in Thiruvananthapuram throughout 1997-2000. Perhaps, that is the primary time within the state’s political historical past that classmates have turn out to be colleagues in a ministry.
“Many college-mates have earlier come together in a ministry and classmates have been elected MLAs. But this may be a rare occasion in the state’s political history where two classmates have become ministers in a cabinet,” mentioned M Praveen Kumar, a lawyer primarily based in Kollam, and a classmate of the duo on the Law Academy.
Interestingly, Rajan was the state secretary of AISF whereas Roshy was the state president of KSC (M) when the late Okay M Mani was a robust chief within the Congress-led UDF, Praveen identified. The CPM’s I B Satheesh, the Kattakkada MLA, is one other classmate of the duo. Recalling their faculty days, he mentioned: “It may be the first time in state history that classmates have found a place in a cabinet, handling key portfolios like revenue and water resources.”
Satheesh shared one other curious anecdote of scholar activism from among the many new set of legislators. Former Kerala University union chairman and normal secretary of the identical 12 months have been elected to this meeting. While Satheesh was the chairman, Pramod Narayanan – the Ranni MLA, who received on a KC (M) ticket — was the overall secretary.
Praveen identified that, if their batchmate T V Rajesh — a former CPM legislator from Kalyassery – was given a ticket, he too might have been a minister. Dineshan Puthalath, the political secretary to the Chief Minister, is one other outstanding determine amongst their classmates. Rajesh and Dineshan have been SFI state leaders throughout their tutorial days, Praveen added.
