Thiruvananthapuram, It now appears that all it took for the political fortunes of P.A. Mohammed Riyas to get into the fast track was his marriage with Veena Vijayan, the daughter of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, in June 2020.

Since getting married, it has been a happy time for Riyas, now a 45-year-old CPI-M leader. He was inducted into the 17-member State Secretariat of the CPI-M on Friday.

The induction took place at Kochi as part of the ongoing 23rd CPI-M conference.

It was the second marriage of Riyas and his wife.

Less than a year after the wedding, Riyas was fielded from the Beypore constituency, a pocketborough of the CPI-M, in the April 2021 Assembly polls.

He steered to an easy victory and was then named the Kerala Public Works Department and the Tourism Minister.

Soon, he became the darling of the media and made a mark as a minister. Speculation was rife that he would be further elevated in the party.

This elevation came on Friday when Riyas was named in the powerful CPI-M Secretariat which consists of 17 leaders, who will be the guiding force for the party's state unit, for the next three years.

This sudden elevation in the CPI-M means Riyas is slated for bigger things in the years to come.