Minister for Water Resources Roshy Augustine represents the Idukki Assembly constituency consisting mostly of settler farmers and his election success for the fifth time shows the strong links he has made with them.
This time, he contested from the Left Democratic Front (LDF) as a representative of the Kerala Congress (M). He had a strong relationship with the party leadership and party founder K.M. Mani. After the split in the party, he got the second place within the party after chairman Jose K. Mani.
“It is his strong bonds with the people that stood him in good stead in the elections. Anyone can approach him and he is always available to them,” says Joby Mathew, who runs a shop at Cheruthoni. “He has this amazing power to identify you in a crowd, if you are acquainted with him once,” he says.
He is the lone Minister from Idukki in the Pinarayi 2.0 Cabinet after M.M. Mani of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in the previous term of the Left Democratic Front government.
Mr. Augustine entered politics through the Kerala Students Congress(M), the students’ wing of the Kerala Congress(M).
Mr. Augustine had always strived to protect the interests of settler farmers. In 2018 February, Mr. Augustine took out a rally from Idukki to Thiruvananthapuram raising farmers’ issues.
In the 2018 floods, the Idukki constituency, including Cheruthoni, faced large-scale damage and his efforts in rebuilding the infrastructure were appreciated by the people. Rani, Mr. Augustine’s wife, is a nurse at the Regional Cancer Centre in Thiruvananthapuram and his children Ann Maria, Angel Maria, and Augustine are students.
