CPI(M)’s A N Shamseer elected as Speaker of Kerala Assembly

A member of the CPI(M) state committee, Shamseer is an emerging Muslim face of the party in North Kerala. Rising to CPI(M) through student politics, the 45-year-old had served as the state president of DYFI, the youth wing of CPI(M).

The new role in the government would help Shamseer to emerge from the shadow of Public Works Minister P A Mohammed Riyas, who is the son-in-law of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Riyas shot to prominence in the party as well as the government and is believed to have eclipsed Shamseer.

M B Rajesh, who had quit as the speaker, has joined the Pinarayi Vijayan Cabinet as the Minister for Local Self-Government and Excise, the portfolios held by M V Govindan Master.

A sudden reshuffle in the cabinet was required after Govindan, a CPI(M) central committee member, was selected as the party state secretary in the wake of the resignation of Kodiyeri Balakrishnan on health grounds.

Two months ago, another minister Saji Cheriyan was forced to step down following his controversial comments against the Constitution. Then, the party did not bring any replacement to the cabinet, instead divided Cheriyan’s portfolios among three other cabinet ministers.