Six months after he was forced to step down, CPM's Chengannur MLA Saji Cherian on Wednesday returned as minister in the Pinarayi Vijayan ministry promising to "bear true faith and allegiance" to the very Constitution he had on June 3 last year said was designed specifically to loot the public.
Governor Arif Mohammad Khan, who has been critical of his re-induction, administered the oath of office and secrecy to the minister-designate at the Raj Bhavan. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was also on the dais.
The ceremony was attended by ministers in the Pinarayi cabinet and top LDF leaders including LDF onvenor E P Jayarajan. The Opposition UDF had boycotted the event.
A case under Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, was still pending against Saji Cheriyan in the Thiruvalla Judicial First Class Magistrate Court. The police had submitted a report in the court exonerating Saji Cheriyan. It is not clear how the LDF government and the CPM would respond if the Thiruvalla Court rejects the police report.
Cheriyan is expected to regain his earlier portfolios, namely culture, fisheries and youth affairs, which were distributed among three other ministers (V N Vasavan, V Abdurahiman and Muhammed Riyas).
He is also expected to be accommodated in his earlier office on the fourth floor of Secretariat Annexe-I. The space was left vacant after Cheriyan's exit.
His personal staff, who were also distributed among three other ministers, is expected to return. There is uncertainty only in the return of Cheriyan's former personal secretary Manu C Pulikkan as he is now serving as the personal secretary to Abdurahiman.
Importance of being Cheriyan
Three factors seem to have quickened Cheriyan's return. One, his closeness to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. In fact, before the CPM Malappuram Party Conference in 2004, Cheriyan was identified with the V S Achuthanandan group.
Two, Cheriyan's man-management skills. He is reputed to have ended factionalism in the Alappuzha unit of CPM, once a V S Achuthanandan bastion. This, he achieved not by strong-handed methods but by keeping both the factions together. The CPM's commendable victory in the 2020 local body polls in Alappuzha district is also credited to Cheriyan's pleasant fence-mending leadership style. If Pinarayi depended on Cheriyan to turn public opinion in favour of K-Rail in Central Travancore, it was a nod to Cheriyan's growing influence beyond party cadres and committed voters.
Three, the need to have a strong representative for Alappuzha in Pinarayi's cabinet; in the first Pinarayi ministry there were T M Thomas Isaac and G Sudhakaran. It is true that the CPM has six other MLAs from Alappuzha. But if the party had still kept the seat warm for Cheriyan it was because he towered over everyone else. There was one more reason. Various Church factions preferred him over anyone else. With Sudhakaran and Isaac moving away from the limelight, Cheriyan has emerged as the CPM's face in Alappuzha.
No apologies, please
Interestingly, Cheriyan has never apologised for his anti-Constitution remarks that he had made on July 3, 2022, during a party programme at Mallappally in Pathanamthitta district.
On June 6, when he had addressed the media to announce his resignation, Cheriyan painted himself as a martyr and expressed alarm at the reactions to his speech. Cheriyan refused to admit to any wrongdoing.
He said the media had telecast just a few minutes from his hour long speech. "I used my style of speech. I never imagined my words would be treated as an insult to the Constitution," he said, and added: "However, some of my words are used widely to create confusion. It is intended to weaken the initiatives of the left democratic front and the state government. As my speech is being used for the purpose, as a responsible public servant, the misinterpretation of my speech has made me sad," he said.
Though he was reluctant to resign, it was then said that the central leadership, especially party general secretary Sitaram Yechury, had convinced the Chief Minister to keep him out.
