Pinarayi Vijayan sworn in as Kerala Chief Minister

At a solemn ceremony witnessed by thousands  at Central Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram, Pinarayi Vijayan and his 18 cabinet colleagues took oath on Wednesday afternoon. Governor P Sathasivam administered the oath of secrecy. 

Vijayan, the Politburo member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM), is the 12th Chief Minister of Kerala and the fourth one from his party. The 19 member cabinet has two woman ministers- KK Shailaja and J Mercykutty Amma, both from the CPM. 

A cross section of the society was present at the venue of the swearing-in ceremony. It is the second time the ceremony is held outside Raj Bhavan. In 2006, VS Achuthanandan had also chose to make the oath-taking a grand people's event. 

Besisdes Achuthanandan, former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechuri, Prakash Karat,Brinda Karat, former ministers and MLAs were present at the function. After the ceremony, the Governer hosted the new cabinet members at Raj Bhavan. 

The first cabinet meeting is expected to take some crucial decisions.