VD Satheesan, who was elected as chief minister in the Assembly elections on Sunday, was sworn in by the Governor of Kerala, Arif Mohammad Khan, with his Cabinet leaders on Monday after the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) defeated the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) in the State. Senior Congress leaders Ramesh Chennithala, Sunny Joseph and K. Muraleedharan were among the senior leaders who took the oath of office in the ceremony. But the absence of senior Congress MP Shashi Tharoor caught the attention of the high profile event which was attended by several Congress leaders and ally partners.
Shashi Tharoor had earlier announced in the party that he was unable to attend the event due to an earlier engagement in the United States. The Congress leader went to Boston to give a speech at his own alma mater, Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy at Tufts University, and also for the 50th reunion of his class.
In his social media posts, Tharoor congratulated Satheesan and said he was sorry he couldn’t attend the swearing-in ceremony. While in the US he said he would be keeping his colleagues and UDF allies in mind on the “happy occasion”.
The swearing-in ceremony was a political comeback for the Congress-led UDF in Kerala, which had been in opposition for the past ten years. Satheesan has been appointed the chief minister because of the clear electoral triumph of the alliance over the Left Front and ending the CPI-M led government’s decade-long rule in the State.