P. J. Joseph

P. J. Joseph Biography

P. J. Joseph is an Indian politician from Kerala. He is the leader of the Kerala Congress party in Kerala, and standing MLA of Thodupuzha assembly constituency. Since 1990 his party had been part of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) as an alliance. He has been one of the influential leaders of Kerala Politics and has held various ministerial positions. In 2010, he resigned from the LDF government and declared his party's merger with K. M. Mani's Kerala Congress (M). He is married to Santha, a gynecologist, and has four children. In 2006, he gained public notice when he was accused of misbehaviour with a lady co-passenger on a Kingfisher flight. He resigned from the Kerala Cabinet on 4 November 2006 following the allegation stating that he would not like to continue even under a shadow of suspicion.

P. J. Joseph was born in Thodupuzha, Kerala. He holds a post graduation degree in Economics from Loyola College Madras. He is a landlord and promotes agriculture using organic methods and progressive concepts. He also owns a farm that cultivates using organic methods. He has been an agriculturist since 1980’s. He organizes the annual Agricultural festival in Thodupuzha since 1989. He was first elected to the Kerala Legislative Assembly in 1970. As a minister, he has served different sectors including Road and development, Agriculture and IT. He instituted the Gandhiji Studies Center and the Gandhi Center for Sustainable Development.

In 2006, he was accused of misbehaving with a lady passenger at flight at Thiruvananthapuram airport. The case was invested by Deputy Inspector General of police B. Sandhya. Joseph resigned from the Kerala Cabinet on 4 November 2006. But the case was dismissed as it lacked proper basis, witnesses and evidence.

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Updated: March 20, 2014