New Delhi, May 19 -- The 21-member Kerala cabinet led by Chief Minister VD Satheeshan assumed office on Monday. Portfolios are being allocated to the ministers, and so are official cars. But missing from the allotment list is official car no 13, because no ministers have reportedly opted for it due to the stigma around the number, widely considered 'unlucky'.

Interestingly, this is not the first time that a UDF government did not have an official car no 13. The last time too, when the UDF was in power in Kerala, between 2011 and 2016, the 'unlucky' number had no takers.

On the contrary, during the two terms of the LDF government led by Pinarayi Vijayan, there was no stigma around car no 13, and in 2016, the then state Finance Minister T...