21-year-old Arya Rajendran becomes Mayor of Thiruvananthapuram

Arya Rajendran, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) councilor from Mudavanmugal in Thiruvananthapuram was sworn in as the new Mayor of the city corporation. She is just 21 years old.

Arya, who is a B.Sc Mathematics second year student at the All Saints College here, told media that she will continue with her studies along with handling the responsibilities as the City Mayor.

P.K. Raju of the Communist Party of India is the Deputy Mayor of Thiruvananthapuram corporation.

In Kollam, Prassanna Earnest of the CPM was sworn in as the Mayor. This is her second stint as the Mayor of Kollam. After the swearing in she told the media that her ambition is to make Kollam the state's best city corporation.

M. Anilkumar of the CPM was sworn in as the Mayor of Ernakulam corporation, which can be considered as the richest corporation of the state. The Left Front wrested the corporation from the United Democratic Front (UDF), and the teething issues of stagnant water after rains, congested roads, waste deployment will be a major challenge for the new Mayor. It may be noted that Ernakulam corporation had got adverse remarks from the Honourable high court of Kerala over clogging of water during rains.

In Thrissur, Left Democratic Front (LDF) and CPM sprang a surprise by swearing in the rebel Congress leader V.K. Varghese as the Mayor. Varghese, who was an Army officer, was into active Congress politics after retirement and when the party did not consider him for the seat, he contested independently and won. Varghese will be Mayor for a two-year tenure and then a CPM leader will take over for the remaining three years.

In Kozhikode, retired teacher Beena Philip of the CPM was sworn in as Mayor. She told mediapersons that she wanted to develop Kozhikode into a world class city and added that she will work in unison with all cutting across party lines to achieve this goal.

In Kannur, the lone corporation where Congress got the Mayor post, party leader T.O. Mohanan was sworn in as the Mayor. Mohanan said that he will strive to make Kannur, the handloom capital of the country. It may be noted that Kannur has the maximum number of weavers and major exports in the sector are taking place.

--IANS

str/rs/ash