In a first, a father-in-law and son-in-law duo will make their presence felt together in the Kerala Assembly soon and thus script a new chapter in its decades-long history. The 75-year old father-in-law is none other than Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan while the son-in-law is PA Mohammed Riyas, national president of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI).
Riyas is the husband of Pinarayi Vijayan's daughter Veena, an IT entrepreneur based in Bengaluru. Veena and Riyas got married at Cliff House, the official residence of the Chief Minister, on June 15, 2020.
While Pinarayi won by a whopping margin of over 50,000 votes from his home turf Dharmadam in Kannur district, the 44-year old Riyas got elected from Beypore, a Left bastion in Kozhikode.
Though the state Assembly has a legacy of accommodating sons and daughters of various politicians in these years, it is for the first time that a father-in-law and son-in-law are together becoming part of the House.
A vibrant youth leader, Riyas had earlier unsuccessfully contested in 2009 Lok Sabha polls from Kozhikode.
There were also some other kith and kin of politicians who tried their luck in the April 6 polls but many of them failed.
Both Jose K Mani, the chief of Kerala Congress (M), a prominent Left partner and his sister's husband MP Joseph, a United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate, bit the dust in Pala and Trikkaripur respectively when the results were announced on Sunday.
While Kerala Congress chairman PJ Joseph won from Thodupuzha, his home turf in Idukki, as UDF nominee, his son- in-law Dr Joseph was defeated in Kothamangalam constituency as the candidate of Twenty20, a corporate-backed political party.
Congress leaders K Muraleedharan and Padmaja Venugopal, children of former Chief Minister late K Karunakaran were defeated in Nemom and Thrissur respectively.
Children of former ministers and Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) from the ruling CPI(M)-led LDF and opposition Congress-led UDF had tested the electoral waters in over 20 of the 140 seats in the April 6 Assembly polls.