KV Thomas | Photo: Mathrubhumi
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala government has decided to appoint former union minister KV Thomas as special representative of the state in New Delhi. He will also get cabinet rank.
The cabinet which met here on Thursday approved the decision to appoint Thomas as the special representative.
During the first Pinarayi Vijayan government, former MP A Sampath held the post. He was the first person to hold the post created in August 2019. The representative is entrusted with coordinating centre-state communications and accelerating the activities of the state government in Delhi.
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Thomas is a former union minister of state (Independent charge) for Food and Civil Supplies in the Manmohan Singh government. He has been a member of the Lok Sabha for six terms and was an MLA for two terms. He was also Minister for Tourism in the AK Antony government in Kerala.
He was expelled from the Congress in May 2022. Congress has reportedly turned down his bid for candidature in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, 2021 Assembly elections, and Rajya Sabha elections. Since then, he has been cooperating with CPM. He campaigned for LDF in the Thrikkakara by-election in 2022.
Besides Thomas, Kerala has an Officer on Special Duty in New Delhi. Venu Rajamony, a former diplomat, holds this post. The former Indian Ambassador to the Netherlands assumed charge of OSD for external cooperation in September 2021. His term was further extended by one year.
As the OSD, Rajamony liaises with the Ministry of External Affairs, foreign missions in New Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru, among others, and Indian diplomatic missions abroad on matters pertaining to the Kerala diaspora and opportunities for external cooperation in diverse sectors.
(With agency inputs)
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