In a First, Father-in-law Chief Minister and Son-in-law MLA in Kerala Assembly

In a first, a father-in-law and son-in-law duo will make their presence felt together in the Kerala Assembly soon and thus script a new chapter in its decades-long history. The 77-year old father-in-law is no one other than Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan while the lucky son-in-law is P A Mohammed Riyas, national president of the Democratic Youth Federation.

Riyas is the husband of Vijayan’s daughter Veena, an IT entrepreneur based in Bengaluru. While Vijayan won by a whopping margin of over 50,000 votes from his home turf Dharmadam in Kannur district, the 44 -year old Riyas got elected from Beypore, a Left bastion in Kozhikode.

Though the state Assembly had a legacy of accommodating sons and daughters of various politicians in these years, it is for the first time that a father-in-law and son-in-law are together becoming part of the House. A vibrant youth leader, Riyas had earlier unsuccessfully contested in 2009 Lok Sabha polls from Kozhikode.

Veena and Riyas got married at Cliff House, the official residence of the Chief Minister, on June 15, 2020. There were also some other kith and kins of politicians who tried their luck in the April 6 polls but many of them failed.

Both Jose K Mani, the chief of Kerala Congress (M), a prominent Left partner and his sister’s husband M P Joseph, a UDF candidate, bit the dust in Pala and Trikkaripur respectively when the results were announced on Sunday. While Kerala Congress chairman P J Joseph won from Thodupuzha, his home turf in Idukki, as UDF nominee, his son- in-law Dr Joseph was defeated in Kothamangalam constituency as the candidate of Twenty20, a corporate-backed political party.

Congress leaders K Muraleedharan, MP and Padmaja Venugopal, children of former Chief Minister late K Karunakaran were defeated in Nemom and Thrissur respectively. Children of former ministers and MLAs from the ruling CPI(M)-led LDF and opposition Congress-led UDF had tested the electoral waters in over 20 of the 140 seats in the April 6 Assembly polls.

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