Kerala's transport minister A.K. Saseendran (TV grab)Kannur: A. K. Saseendran, who quit as Kerala transport minister on Sunday over the alleged sleaze telephonic conversation with an unidentified woman, has always come across as a calm and relaxed person.
He wore a smile for much of the press conference called to announce his decision to quit the Pinarayi Vijayan-led cabinet after a TV channel aired his alleged sexually explicit talks.
Read: Kerala minister AK Saseendran quits over sleaze talk, denies wrongdoing | Video
He became the second minister to quit the 10-month-old Pinarayi cabinet after E.P. Jayarajan’s resignation over allegations of nepotism in October.
It is a known fact that his affability is often disarming to leaders in the rival parties, and on Sunday, while attending the stormy press meet, he never lost his cool even once when scribes hurled tough questions at him one after another.
Saseendran, who was elected from the Elathur constituency in Kozhikode district representing the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in the 2016 elections, is one of the few leaders in Kerala who refused to return to the UDF fold after crossing over to the Left camp.
A member of the NCP national working committee, he was previously elected to the state Assembly in 1980, 1982, 2006 and 2011.
He made his entry into politics through the Kerala Students’ Union, the students’ wing of the Congress, and went on to become the state president of the Youth Congress. He was part of the Congress faction led by A. K. Antony which crossed over to the Left camp in 1980.
In 1981, when the split-away faction returned to the Congress fold withdrawing support to the E. K. Nayanar ministry, Saseendran remained firmly in the Left front.
He has been in the Left camp for about three-and-a-half decades, and the ministerial post offered to him when the LDF returned to power in 2016 was seen as a reward for his unflinching loyalty.
He made his debut in the Assembly in 1980 after being elected from the erstwhile Peringalam Assembly constituency as an LDF candidate. He was one of the six MLAs who vehemently opposed Antony’s decision to withdraw support to the coalition government headed by Nayanar in 1981.
In 1982, he won from the erstwhile Edakkad Assembly constituency on a Congress (S) ticket. However, he suffered back-to-back losses from the Kannur constituency in 1987 and 1991.
In 2001, when Sharad Powar broke away from the Congress and formed the NCP, Congress (S) merged with the latter. It is his second term from the Elathur constituency.
