Team News Riveting
Kochi, May 16
Following criticism and reservations raised by doctors’ body, Kerala Chief Minister’s swearing-in ceremony would be a low-key affair in Thiruvananthapuram.
The swearing-in ceremony of Kerala’s Left Democratic Front (LDF) government headed by Pinarayi Vijayan would be held on May 20. Now, only the elected legislators and ministers, along with officials and media persons would be present on the historic occasion as no incumbent ruling party had retained power in Kerala as the LDF did.
The Left Democratic Front, led by the CPI(M), retained power with a comfortable majority. The Front won 99 out of the total 140 Assembly seats.
Pinarayi on Friday announced that the swearing-in would be held at the Central Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram and hinted it would be a mega show. It drew sharp criticism from several quarters as a mass gathering would be a threat as the contagious COVID-19 had been surging in the state.
On Saturday, the Kerala unit of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) had recommended that the swearing-in ceremony of the government be done virtually in the wake of rising COVID-19 cases.
The IMA in a statement issued by its president PT Zacharias and its secretary P Gopikumar said that the way the swearing-in is conducted would send a strong message to the people regarding how COVID-19 is being tackled. They also pointed out that one reason why the second wave has been very bad was on account of the relaxations in COVID-19 protocol during the recent elections.
Following pressure, the government had decided to curtail the list and invited limited persons who had both doses of the vaccine and a COVID-19 negative certificate.
