THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Congress leader P. J. Joseph, Congress (S) leader Ramachandran Kadannappally and Jose Thettayil (Janata Dal-S Gowda group) will be sworn in as Ministers of the Left Democratic Front ministry in Kerala at 11.30 a.m
on Monday.
The Minister designates will take oath of office and secrecy after the Chief Secretary Neela Gangadharan presents them before the Governor R. S. Gavai at Raj Bhavan.
With the induction of the new Ministers, the LDF ministry will have 20 members including Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan.
Profiles of New Ministers:
Mr. Joseph, who is the chairman of his party, began his career as member of Assembly from Thodupuzha in 1970. He has been the Minister for Home Affairs (1978), Minister for Education and Revenue (1981), Minister Revenue and Housing (1982-87) and Minister for Education and Public Works (1996-2001) in Kerala.
Mr. Joseph, who represents Thodupuzha constituency, had been elected to the Assembly six times before. Though he joined the Achuthanandan Ministry in 2006, he had to step down within months following registration of a case against him alleging misbhaviour with a woman passenger in an aircraft. He is returning to the ministry after a Chennai court acquitted him of the charges.
Mr. Kadannappally, who entered politics as a student leader, is a man committed to Gandhian thoughts. He had been elected to Parliament in 1971 and 1977 and to the Assembly in 1980 and 2006. He held several positions in the student and youth wings of the Indian National Congress before parting ways with the Congress. He became the general secretary of the KPCC (S) in 1989 and is currently the president of the Congress (S). He represents Edakkad in the Assembly.
Jose Thettayil, who entered politics through the Kerala Students Union, is an advocate by profession. He was State executive member and national council member of the Janatha party (1980) and later of the Janatha Dal. He is the office bearer of several trade unions and member of the Director Board of State Film Development Corporation.
He also the author of the book 'Cinemayum Rashtriyavum' and director of a documentary All for God's Sake and a film critic. He continues to write articles on films in periodicals.
Mr. Thettayil becomes a Minister in place of Mathew T. Thomas who had quit the Ministry before the Lok Sabha elections. Mr. Thomas had been asked to step down by his party in protest against the denial of seats to it for contest in the Lok Sabha polls by the CPI (M). The Janata Dal subsequently split, and Mathew T. Thomas and Jose Thettayil remained with the LDF.
Mr. Joseph replaces Mons Joseph, who resigned on Sunday, to pave way for his party leader.
