Alphons Kannanthanam, who was sworn as a federal minister last week, will arrive today in his home state of Kerala for the first time after assuming office.
His Bharatiya Janata Party had elaborate programmes for him to celebrate the southern state getting representation in the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi after a long wait.
The state is looking up to the junior minister for information technology and tourism as he handles two portfolios that are vital to its growth as Kerala remains mostly unattractive for manufacturing investors.
He holds independent charge of tourism, the only sector that the state has been witnessing a robust growth, though it received a jolt when the federal government recently denied the state’s tourism minister permission to attend a promotional event in China.
Immediately after assuming office, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, whom he considers as his political mentor, had hosted a luncheon in his honour in the national capital in a rare gesture that none of his predecessors enjoyed.
Interestingly, a section of the Christian clergy has also arranged meetings celebrating his elevation, much to the pleasure of BJP which has been trying hard to make inroads into this important vote bank.
BJP state unit president Kummanam Rajasekharan will lead the reception at the Cochin international airport at 9.30am, followed by the Ernakulam district committee in Muvattupuzha.
From there, he will head for Kottayam district and lead a roadshow that begins at 1.30pm covering nine villages of Kanjirappally Assembly constituency, which he represented for the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) for five years before joining the BJP.
Tomorrow, he will be in the northern Kannur district on a private visit where he will also be accorded a reception by the party’s district committee.
He will return to Kottayam on Tuesday and inaugurate the Sreekrishna Jayanti at Thirunakkara temple.
Later in the evening, a slew of politicians, including Kanam Rajendran, the state secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI), electricity minister MM Mani of the CMI (M), Kerala Congress leader PJ Joseph, Anto Antony MP of Congress party and several others will attend a public reception.
Bishop Mathew Arackal will preside over the function to be inaugurated by Rajasekharan at the Amal Jyothi Engineering College, Kanjirappally. On the same day, he will meet bishops of Nilackal Ecumenical Council.
The Thiruvananthapuram district unit of the BJP will accord him a reception on Saturday before his departure to Delhi.
The bureaucrat-turned-politician was listed as one of the 100 young leaders of the world by Time magazine in 1994 while he was the commissioner of the Delhi Development Authority demolishing 14,310 illegal structures and earned the nickname, the Demolition Man.
Also known for his literacy mission in Kottayam when he was the district collector making it India’s first total literate city in 1989, he quit Indian Administrative Service (IAS) a decade back to take the political plunge.
He represents the new breed of politicians who made it big in their profession before taking to politics like Congress lawmaker Shashi Tharoor, author of 16 books who was elected for two terms from the state capital after an outstanding stint at the United Nations as its undersecretary general.
In 2006, Kannanthanam won with an impressive majority from the Kanjirappally assembly constituency defeating the nearest Congress party rival.
After his election, he chose to be different by declaring that the core job of a politician was not to attend funerals and marriages as most of the legislators and parliamentarians do.
He decided to reach out to people and made his cell phone number public.
He also brought Rs2bn of government money into his constituency for improving basic infrastructures like drinking water, electricity, schools, hospitals, roads and bypasses, which was more than the entire money that has come into the constituency in 50 years.
Growing up in a non-electrified village and scoring just 42% in the school board exams he could become one of the toppers of the IAS in 1979.
He joined the BJP in 2011, rejecting a CPI (M) offer of a renomination, and went on to become a member of its national council.