A. K. Saseendran (born 29 January 1946) is an Indian politician who has served as the Minister for Forests and Wildlife Protection of Kerala since 2021. He previously served as the Minister for Transport of Kerala from 2018 to 2021 and from 2016 to 2017. He is a Member of the Kerala Legislative Assembly representing Elathur since 2011. He previously represented

Peringalam Peringalam is a small town in Talassery taluk of Kannur district in the Indian state of Kerala. It is part of Panoor municipality. Peringalam assembly constituency was part of Vatakara (Lok Sabha constituency) Vatakara Lok Sabha constitue ...

from 1980 to 1982, Edakkad from 1982 to 1987 and

Balussery Balussery is a major developing town located about 25 km northeast of Kozhikode city and lies on the sides of State Highway 34. It is one of the largest 140 assembly constituencies in Kerala and one of the 12 block Panchayats in Kozhikode dist ...

from 2006 to 2011 in the Kerala Legislative Assembly. He is a member of the

Nationalist Congress Party The Nationalist Congress Party ( NCP) is one of the nine national parties in India. The party generally supports Indian nationalism and Gandhian secularism. It is the largest opposition party in Maharashtra and is also a significant party ...

Personal life

He is the son of K. Kunhambu and M. K. Janaki. He was born in

Kannur Kannur (), formerly known in English as Cannanore, is a city and a municipal corporation in the state of Kerala, India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Kannur district and situated north of the major port city and commercial hu ...

on 29 January 1946. He is married to Anitha Krishnan N T and has one son Varun Saseendran. He resides at Mele Chovva, Kannur. Hobbies : Reading and Travelling Recreation : Watching Football

Political life

One among the senior leaders in Kerala politics. A native of Elayavoor in Kannur, Saseendran started his political career through KSU in 1962. After holding various party posts, he joined Congress (S) in 1978. Later he joined NCP and currently he is a member of national working committee since 2006. He was elected to the Assembly in 1980 from Peringalam, 1982 from Edakkad, 2006 from Balussery and three times consecutively from Elathur during 2011,2016 and 2021 elections.

Positions held

* President, District Committee, Kerala Students Union Kozhikode (1963–66) * General Secretary, Kerala Students Union (1967–69) * General Secretary (1969–77) * Vice President (1969–78) and President (1978-80) * Kerala Pradesh Youth Congress Committee (1978–80) * Member, Coffee Board (1978–80) * ISCUS (1977–81) * Governing Board of Kerala Saksharata Samiti (1987-91 & 1992-97) * Kerala State Housing Board (1997-2001) * Vice-President, Jawaharlal Nehru Public Library and Research Centre, Kannur * General Secretary, Congress (U) & Indian Congress Socialist (Congress(S)) * Member, Advisory Committee, Food Corporation of India * State General Secretary, State Vice President, National Committee Member, Working Committee Member and Parliamentary Party leader of Nationalist Congress Party (N.C.P.) * Kerala Legislative Assembly; Minister for Transport (from 25-5-2016 to 27-3-2017 and 01-2-2018 to 03-05-2021) * Kerala Legislative Assembly; Minister for Forests, Wild Life Protection (from 20-5-2021)

Controversy

On 26 March 2017, Saseendran resigned as minister after a newly launched malayalam television channel, Mangalam TV, aired a telephonic audio clip in which he is allegedly heard speaking in a sexually explicit way to a person, whom the channel claimed was a

housewife A housewife (also known as a homemaker or a stay-at-home mother/mom/mum) is a woman whose role is running or managing her family's home—housekeeping, which includes caring for her children; cleaning and maintaining the home; making, buying an ...

. Later, the channel CEO apologised and admitted that it was a sting operation done using a woman journalist of the channel after having denied it earlier. On April 4, the CEO and four mediapersons of the channel were arrested by the

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...

for airing “

obscene An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin ''obscēnus'', ''obscaenus'', "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Such loaded language can be us ...

conversation” and criminal conspiracy. Later, Saseendran was acquitted in the case after the complainant, who had earlier alleged sexual harassment turned hostile in court and he returned as minister. Saseendran was the second Minister to resign from the

first Pinarayi Vijayan ministry First Pinarayi Vijayan ministry is the Council of Ministers headed by Pinarayi Vijayan that was formed after the Left Democratic Front (LDF) won the 2016 Kerala Legislative Assembly elections. The Council assumed office on 25 May 2016. The mini ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saseendran, A. K. Kerala MLAs 2011–2016 1946 births Nationalist Congress Party politicians from Kerala Living people Politicians from Kozhikode Politicians from Kannur Indian National Congress (U) politicians Indian National Congress politicians from Kerala Kerala MLAs 2016–2021 Kerala MLAs 2021–2026 Indian Congress (Socialist) politicians Nationalist Congress Party (SP) politicians