Just in: Pinarayi Vijayan takes oath as Kerala Chief Minister.


Vijayan, known as a taskmaster and an organisation man to the core, pipped his bitter rival V S Achuthanandan to the top post in Kerala politics, notwithstanding the spirited campaign by the 93-year-old leader to ensure the Left's victory in the assembly election.


Hailing from a poor toddy tapper's family, the Communist Party of India-Marxist leader belongs to the politically dominant Thiyya community like his party rival  Achuthanandan, who is an Ezhava from South Kerala.


Popularly known as 'Pinarayi', Vijayan is a party politburo member and perhaps the only communist leader in recent years to have had a complete control over the party for 16 years till he stepped down from the post of state secretary last year.


A man of few words, he proved his organisational capability in the state during this period. He had a short stint as the state's power minister during 1996-1998.