Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) legislator Thomas Chandy was sworn in as a Minister in the Pinarayi Vijayan Cabinet at a brief function in Raj Bhavan here on Saturday.
Governor P. Sathasivam administered the oath of office and secrecy to Mr. Chandy, who took the oath in the name of God. Present on the occasion was Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and several of his Cabinet colleagues. However, former Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan was conspicuous by his absence. So were leaders of the Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan, Ministers, and leaders of various ruling alliance partners greeted Mr. Chandy shortly after he was sworn in. Present at the ceremony was A.K. Saseendran, whose exit from the Cabinet following a TV expose of his sexually explicit conversation with a woman, paved the way for Mr. Chandy to enter the Cabinet.
Although the TV channel had later admitted that it was a trap and not a genuine conversation, Mr. Saseendran had refused to return to the Cabinet. A Crime Branch investigation and a judicial inquiry have been ordered into the incident. Mr. Saseendran went up the stage to congratulate Mr. Chandy on his assumption as Minister and also spent some time with him.
