Who is Veena George? 10 Things To Know About The New Health Minister Of Kerala

Veena George New Health Minister Kerala: It is for the first time in history, that a woman journalist-turned politician will become a minister in Kerala.

Veena George, a member of CPI(M) who had excelled as a journalist and a news anchor in several Malayalam news channels will be succeeding KK Shailaja as the Health Minister of the state in the Pinarayi Vijayan-led government.

The Chief Minister along with the newly formed cabinet will take the oath on Thursday, May 19. Other than George, KN Balagopal, V Sivankutty, Chinchu Ran, Dr R Bindhu, and PA Muhammed Riyas are some of the ministers in the cabinet.

The cabinet has three women ministers, George, Dr R Bindu for higher education, and Chinchu Rani for Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development.

Here are 10 things to know about Veena George new Health Minister of Kerala:

1. Veena George represents the Aranmula constituency in the Kerala Legislative Assembly and is affiliated to the Communist Party of India.

2. Born in Thiruvananthapuram, she is married to George Joseph.

3. The journalist-turned-politician received her degree in Physics from Kerala University.

4. Before joining politics, she worked with the major Malayalam news channels for more than 16 years and became the first female executive editor among the Malayalam news channels.

5. George started her career as a journalist trainee at Kairali TV and later joined Manorama News as a news anchor.

6. After that she was associated with Indiavision and TV New as a chief news editor and Executive Editor respectively.

7. In the field of politics, George was first nominated as the candidate by CPI(M) for the Aranmula constituency in the 2016 Kerala Assembly Elections and was elected to the Legislative Assembly after she defeated K Sivadasan Nair of Congress.

8. George contested from the Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha constituency in the 2019 Indian General Elections as a Left Front candidate (LDF).

9. In the election, she lost to A Antony of the Indian National Congress by a margin of 44,243 votes.

10. In the 2021 Kerala Assembly elections, she won again from the Aranmula constituency by defeating Adv K Sivadasan Nair of Congress by a huge margin.