Vadasseri Damodara Menon Satheesan was sworn in today as the thirteenth Chief Minister of Kerala along with 20 other ministers at a glittering ceremony at the Central Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram by the Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar. Witnessed by thousands of Congress workers at the venue and lakhs on their television sets across the state the moment seemed to beckon a new slice of history in the political landscape of Kerala.
True to every congress function unruly Khadi clad congressmen pushed and shoved their through the venue to get as close as possible to their VDS, the new demi-god politician of Kerala, as verses anointing him as the messiah of the downtrodden blared through the loudspeakers. For 10 long years they had waited for this very moment and all decorum at the venue was soon forgotten in reliving this cherished moment.
Meanwhile on the dais, along with eleven ministers of the Congress, five legislatures from the Indian Union Muslim league (IUML), led by PK Kunhalikutty who received the maximum applause second only to VDS, also took oath of office. One MLA each from Kerala Congress (Joseph), Kerala Congress (Jacob), RSP and CMP were also sworn in Monday.
Apart from majority of the Congress high command including president Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, the CPM state secretary MV Govindan, opposition leader in Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan and BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar also attended the function along with a host of other dignitaries.
Following the swearing the first VDS cabinet met and took some landmark decisions which were later explained by Satheesan at his first briefing as Chief Minister.
The VDS era has just begun.
Naveen R Nair in Thiruvananthapuram
