Oommen Chandy’s son-in-law, actor Lal join 20-20 party

Son-in-law of former Chief Minister and Congress veteran Oommen Chandy has joined 20-20, a political party backed by the Anna-Kitex group. Varghese George formally joined the party on Saturday. He is married to Oommen Chandy’s oldest daughter Mariya.

 

20-20 had an advisory committee meeting in Kochi on Saturday. It was here that Varghese formally joined the party. 20-20’s advisory committee chairperson Kochouseph Chittilappilly handed over the party’s membership to Varghese. He will function as an advisory committee member and youth wing co-ordinator of the party. According to reports, Varghese who had been working abroad decided to join 20-20 as he was impressed by the Kizhakkambalam panchayat ruled by the corporate-backed political party. 

 

Apart from Varghese, Malayalam actor Lal and his son-in-law Alan Antony too joined the party. While Lal has been appointed as an advisory committee member, the party made Alan 20-20’s Youth Wing President. 

 

Earlier, Malayalam actor Sreenivasan and director Siddique too joined 2020 as members of the advisory committee. 

 

20-20 is the Corporate Social Responsibility wing of the Anna-Kitex group which won the Gram Panchayat elections and began ruling the Kizhakkambalam panchayat in 2015. The party has now expanded its control to three panchayats after getting a clear majority in the 20-20 local body elections in Kerala. 

 

For the assembly polls, the CSR wing of the corporate group has decided to contest in 8 assembly seats, fuelled by the success they saw in the local body polls. The party has announced candidates for 8 assembly seats in Ernakulam district. 

 

The CSR wing took root after the Anna-Kitex group faced multiple allegations of polluting water bodies in the Kizhakkambalam areas, by draining out effluents from the company’s factories. Several people turned against the company. To address this, the Anna-Kitex group started Kizhakkambalam 20-20, as a CSR wing of the group, and set up several welfare measures and initiatives in Kizhakkambalam. This gained them the support of the people which encouraged them to contest the civic polls.