Thiruvananthapuram: Despite the storm it unleashed outside during its journey across the state, the Nava Kerala Sadas bus which had Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his cabinet colleagues as passengers witnessed fun, camaraderie and serious discussions on board. The Left Democratic Front (LDF) could get ready for the upcoming general elections, thanks to the trip.
The impact of the Sadas was felt in the camp of the opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) as well as it responded by getting into poll mode even without holding a ‘chintan shivir’.
“The 36-day Sadas created a comradeship between the ministers which has never been witnessed in any previous cabinet. This enabled us to take decisions on many files which were pending for a long time,” said Revenue Minister K Rajan.
“For instance, there was a file related to allotting land for industrial purposes over which discussions took place for several months, but nothing had happened. My seat on the Nava Kerala Sadas bus was adjacent to that of Industries Minister P Rajeeve. On the fourth day of the journey, the file was approved on the bus itself,” he explained.
Rear-seat passengers
The seats at the rear-end of the Benz bus were occupied by ministers Antony Raju, V Sivankutty and G R Anil. Often, K Radhakrishnan also sat with them.
A few ministers were keen to sing songs during the journey and the music session was started by Raju. When three or four male ministers began singing, the female cabinet members joined them. Songs which were frequently rendered included ‘Devi Sreedevi’, ‘Alliyambal kadavil’ and ‘Nee madhu pakaroo’. “There was much fun on the bus and jokes were cracked, which the Chief Minister also enjoyed,” said Rajan.
Planning on bus
While the chief minister was the leader of the Sadas, the daily schedules and programmes were planned and conveyed to the ministers by Radhakrishnan, which earned him the nickname ‘tour manager.’
Every morning, the chief minister would inform the ministers about the topics they had to speak about at the meetings of the Sadas, following which the latter held discussions on the points to be highlighted.
Rajan cracked jokes regularly and a popular one went, “A truck carrying timber travels down the Wayanad ghat road and a toad challenges to stop it. The UDF will meet the same fate as the toad after the Nava Kerala Sadas!”
At one meeting of the Sadas, Rajan was speaking when the chief minister arrived. The CM asked another minister when Rajan’s speech would be over. “The timber truck is yet to reach the toad,” the minister replied, eliciting laughter from the chief minister.
Health Minister Veena George highlighted the closure of a file related to the urgent appointment of 270 employees in the Health Department as the biggest takeaway from the journey. The file, which had been passed between the Health and Finance departments for the past two years, was finally settled in the bus.
Snacks along the way
The wife of Minister Abdu Rahman arranged some sweets from Northern parts of the state during the trip. When the bus reached Varkala, ‘kilikoodu’, a delicacy prepared with kada eggs by the family of legislator V Joy was distributed on the bus.
Curiously, the passengers claimed they were unaware of the controversies and violence taking place along the route. “No such incidents were shown in the TV channel played on the screen in the bus,” said a minister.
