Kerala Congress has chosen VD Satheesan as its new Leader of Opposition on Saturday. The 56-year-old Congress leader will replace Ramesh Chennithala who was aiding Chief ministerial goals in Kerala. Satheesan was chosen from the Paravur constituency in Ernakulam district for a fifth consecutive time in the recently ended Kerala elections where Congress obtained only 41 of the 140 seats.
Satheesan, who was Vice-president of the Kerala Congress and AICC secretary earlier will direct the leadership change in the state after Congress’s defeat. The news suggests that the current KPCC chief Mullappally Ramachandran too may be reinstated as per Congress High Command’s hopes. Obligatory CM Pinarayi Vijayan who was re-elected has also dismissed all ministers from his former cabinet, replacing them with fresh faces. Ahead of the elections, Congress veteran P C Chacko – a fierce Rahul Gandhi loyalist – gave his resignation to party chief Sonia Gandhi claiming that there is ‘no democracy in Congress’. Slamming the high-command of the Congress he stated that the groupism had only grown and degenerated to a level where the two alleged parties – Congress (I) and Congress (A) – appeared at their list of candidates and assigned them to the high-command without any considerations. He has now entered NCP, which is part of the ruling LDF.
Later Congress published names of 86 candidates for Kerala Assembly polls, promoting a ‘generational shift as wanted by Rahul Gandhi’ losing several veterans. Shortly, Mahila Congress chief Lathika Subash shaved her head and resigned from her post in front of the Congress’s office in Thiruvananthapuram on being rejected a poll ticket. On related grounds, Kerala Congress Vice- President KC Rosakutty resigned from the party’s primary membership and united with the LDF. Rosakutty said that she was agitated with the Congress sidelining women, after being rejected a ticket for the forthcoming elections.
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Beating off its ‘Aishwarya Kerala Yatra’, Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala promised to make legislation to defend the rights of the Ayyappa believers when the UDF is voted to power. Further, Rahul Gandhi visited the state many times, campaigning for UDF. Congress also frequently called for CM Pinarayi Vijayan’s resignation over a sacrament of problems – Gold smuggling probe, Sandalwood probe, COVID handling, Sabarimala issue, Sprinklr row, Police social media order, etc. Notwithstanding its massive impact, UDF won only 41 seats, while LDF won 99 seats, breaking the cyclic power of UDF-LDF governments in Kerala and leading in Vijayan’s 2nd term.
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