Former journalist to take care of Kerala’s health

Journalist turned politician Veena George is the new Health Minister of Kerala. She succeeds K K Shailaja, whose work on the fight against the COVID pandemic was widely appreciated.

Shailaja is not in the new cabinet sworn in yesterday, as Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan decided to exclude all the ministers from the last cabinet, while forming the new cabinet.

George has been an active journalist, having worked with different news channels in Kerala. She started her journalism career over 16 years ago, when she joined the Malayalam news channel Kairali, as a trainee journalist, from where she moved to Manorama News as a news anchor.

A rank holder in MSc Physics from Kerala University, Veena George was active as a student in the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] front organisation Students’ Federation of India.

After working in various channels in different positions, including being the Executive Editor of TV News, she joined politics and successfully contested the Kerala Assembly Election from Aranmula constitutency on a CPI(M) ticket in 2016.

In 2019, she was defeated in the Lok Sabha elections by Anto Antony of Indian National Congress, bu 44,243 votes.

She comfortable retained her Assembly seat in the recently held elections in Kerala.