Thiruvananthapuram: MM Mani, a Marxist leader who once reportedly boasted that his party has a history of eliminating political rivals in Kerala, was picked by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan as industries minister.
He replaces another controversial Vijayan loyalist - EP Jayarajan - who had to resign less than five months into office on charges that he appointed close relatives in plum government posts.
A first-time legislator and a state Secretariat member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI(M), Mani told the media he was happy to have been given more responsibilities and that he would do his best.
Mani had raised a storm in 2012 when he, in a public speech, was reported to have said this of political clashes which took place three decades earlier: "We made a list of the opponents, and one, two, three, we killed them. The first one was shot to death, the second was stabbed to death and third was beaten to death. So don’t try to scare us.”
Subsequently the then Congress-led government registered a case against him on the basis of his speech and reopened investigations into the political murders.
The BJP in Kerala said they will protest Mani's appointment, with former state president M Muraleedharan saying, "Mani, who is an accused in a political murder has been picked as a minister.
Legally there may not be anything wrong, but morally this should not have happened.
"Even after the new Left Democratic Front government came to power this year, Mani created another controversy that ministers from ally CPI were "ignorant"."
But despite his penchant for controversy, what has apparently worked in Mani's favour is that he has a strong base among the plantation areas of Idukki district, which saw some erosion in Left votes in the recent Assembly elections.
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