The Congress has finally drawn up a list of ministers for the state representing a rich blend of experience, group loyalties, the harsh reality of community equations and the splendour of Malabar. Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy said the list would be announced on Saturday.

The new chief minister, Mr Oommen Chandy, does not face an immediate threat to his government which runs on a slender majority since even the Opposition Left Democratic Front would not aspire to create instability and risk another election.

The Congress and its allies will wrap up their Cabinet berth discussions here on Tuesday, ahead of the swearing-in of the chief minister and ministers on May 18.
It was on May 18 five years ago that CPI(M) veteran V.S. Achuthanandan was sworn in as the chief minister. The baton was passed on to him by Mr Oommen Chandy, who was in office for less than two years.

The Congress-led United Democratic Front came back to power in Kerala on Friday with the slenderest majority in the history of the Assembly, winning a mere 72 of the total 140 seats. The ruling Left Democratic Front, on the other hand, put up the best performance by any incumbent since 1977, winning 68 seats. The BJP yet again failed to open its account in the Assembly.

Whether the ruling LDF wins or loses, the Chief Minister, Mr V.S. Achuthanandan, will go down in Kerala’s electoral history as a wily politician who set the agenda for campaign 2011.

A rare photograph of the great poet, Rabindranath Tagore, taken by the Fascist ruler of Italy, Benito Mussolini, hangs at the Madhavi Mandiram Loka Seva Trust in the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram. The photograph was given to the veteran Gandhian G. Ramachandran, founder of the trust, by C.F. Andrews, a friend and follower of the

The major partners of the Opposition United Democratic Front — the Indian Union Muslim League and Kerala Congress (Mani) — have formed an axis to wrest more Cabinet berths in case the coalition comes to power.

There’s been a drop in polling percentages in most of the Assembly segments in the traditional Muslim fortresses of Malappuram district, in contradiction to the uptrend across the state.

At the end of a month-long caustic campaign which ended in incidents of sporadic violence, Kerala voted peacefully on Wednesday, registering nearly 75 per cent polling to elect 140 members to the state Assembly.

The chief minister, Mr V.S. Achuthanandan, who has made the protection of women his main campaign plank, on Wednesday faced a hailstorm of protests over his “insinuation” against Ms Lathika Subash, his rival Congress candidate in Malampuzha.