Veena Thayikkandiyil, daughter of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and national President of Democratic Youth Federation of India tied the knot on Monday at the official residence of the Chief Minister in Thiruvananthapuram.
Veena is an IT entrepreneur and runs her own software company, Exalogic Solutions Private Limited in Bengaluru. Riaz is a lawyer by profession and had contested from the Kozhikode Lok Sabha seat in 2009 which he lost to MK Raghavan of UDF by around 800 votes.
This is the second marriage for both of them as both their earlier marriages ended in divorce.
Riaz has two children while Veena has a son through their earlier marriage.
The event was a low key affair with reportedly not more than 50 guests attending.
Though it was reported that authorities were entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring social distancing and wearing of masks by the guests, pictures released showed many of them not wearing masks and standing close to each other. Both the bride and groom did not wear mask. Even the Chief Minister can be seen without a mask while others hung the mask around their neck without covering the nose and mouth.
Across the country, marriages during the lockdown period happened modestly with all guests including the bride and groom wearing masks and observing social distancing. A groom in UP was fined for not wearing masks. Karnataka Health Minister B Sriramulu faced backlash from media when he attended the wedding ceremony of the son of former minister Parameshwar Naik.
However, no such condemnation was reported by the media even though the Chief Minister himself can bee seen flouting COVID19 protocols by not wearing mask and standing very close others.