Reward for Kerala, ahead of 2011 polls

28 May 2009, ET Bureau

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: When two nurses at the Apollo Hospital in Delhi spoke in Malayalam in the elevator this week, the hospital authorities reportedly dismissed them from service.

The duo can now take heart that their state’s demands of every kind will be heard loud and clear not only in hospital elevators but in the highest echelons of power as an unprecedented half a dozen Keralites join the Union Cabinet.

After defence minister A K Antony and Vayalar Ravi, four Lok Sabha MPs from the state got the call from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday. While Indian Union Muslim League’s E Ahmed was an odds-on favourite to be part of the ministry, the three Congressmen — Mullappally Ramachandran, K V Thomas and Shashi Tharoor — were not so assured about being part of the Union Council of Ministers.
Congressmen across the state were unanimous in saying that such a strong Kerala contingent would help accelerate the development of the state.

Political observers here say that the choice of Mullappally, Thomas and Tharoor as ministers of state have all to do with their closeness to the party high command, with all three perceived to have had the high command’s blessings in contesting.

Mr Thomas’ candidature had attracted controversy, when he came in place of a much younger Hibi Eden to contest the Ernakulam constituency. The contest turned out to be surprisingly tough for Mr Thomas who barely managed to beat the challenge of CPM’s youth leader Sindhu Joy.

In contrast, Mr Tharoor and Mr Ramachandran scored resounding victories in Thiruvananthapuram and Vadakara respectively. While Mr Tharoor won handsomely against CPI’s Ramachandran Nair, with a majority two short of a lakh votes, Mr Ramachandran scored perhaps the most spectacular win for the Congress in the state, winning the Vadakara seat by over 56,000 votes from CPM after a 29-year gap.

Six ministerial berths is also seen in the state as a reward to voters, who will be deciding on a new state government two years from now. The CPM-led Left Democratic Front had bagged 100 out of the 140 assembly seats in the state in the 2006 election.