Thiruvananthapuram, June 13 (IANS) Two years after a roadside confrontation that turned into a major political controversy, Kerala State Road Transport Corporation’s former temporary driver, Yadu Krishnan, is set to return to the driver’s seat, this time at the Kerala Legislative Assembly, and through it, the development has acquired a larger political significance.

Yadu Krishnan, in 2024, lost his temporary KSRTC job following the controversy involving CPI (M) leaders Arya Rajendran (who was the Thiruvananthapuram Mayor) and her husband, K.M. Sachin Dev, the Balussery MLA.

Since then, he had struggled to make a living after the incident as he was booted out of KSRTC and eventually took up work as a delivery boy.

His fortunes changed after Congress MLA Chandy Oommen, son of former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, wrote to the new Assembly Speaker Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, who appointed him as a temporary driver in the Legislature.

From June 19 onwards, Yadu Krishnan will be behind the wheel of the bus that transports legislators from their hostel to the Assembly during session days.

Though the appointment is temporary and limited to days when the House is in session, the move has already created a political ripple, with the Congress projecting it as a gesture of support towards a person who it believes was unfairly treated.

Incidentally, Arya Rajendran and Sachin Dev were once celebrated by the CPI (M) as the face of a new generation.

Arya, at 21, was selected as the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation Mayor in 2020, and Dev, who entered the Assembly at age 23 in 2021, was showcased as a symbol of youth and modern politics by the CPI (M).

In 2022, the two became husband and wife.

Their image, however, took a severe hit after the KSRTC driver controversy, which triggered a wave of public criticism and social media backlash.

Arya was not renominated to contest the 2025 local body polls, and she also saw the CPI (M), which ruled the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation for over four decades, succumb to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Her husband failed to retain his Assembly seat, as he lost to his Congress opponent at the April 2026 Assembly polls.

Yadu Krishnan’s return, especially through a Congress-backed appointment at the Assembly, has now given the episode a fresh political dimension.

–IANS

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