Thiruvananthapuram: Day after the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) wrested power in Kerala last week, Congress leader V.D. Satheesan told ThePrint that he was not making any “claim” to the chief minister’s post.
“My duty was to bring the UDF back to power when I took over in 2021. I have completed my task with a wonderful victory, the biggest number in Kerala’s history since 1957,” he said after the UDF won 102 of 140 assembly seats in Kerala.
However, the decision on who would be the chief minister (CM) was more complicated.
The next day, two AICC-appointed leaders, Ajay Maken and Mukul Wasnik, arrived in Kerala to consult the 63 newly elected Congress MLAs. Over 40 backed AICC leader K.C. Venugopal, leaving Satheesan with support in the single digits. But crucially, Congress allies—the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and the Kerala Congress (Joseph)— remained steady in their support for Satheesan.
While Venugopal consolidated support among MLAs, Satheesan presented his case to the party leadership differently. Supporters rallied for him across multiple districts, displaying flex boards reading, “Those who led the army, let them rule the land.” Some went further, defacing posters of Venugopal, symbolising the intensity of the contest.
On the last day of the party’s deliberations, posters appeared in Wayanad. The Lok Sabha constituency has been represented by Rahul and Priyanka since 2019. The posters warned that Wayanad would become the next Amethi if Satheesan was not made the CM.
Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi’s office was flooded with hundreds of emails supporting Satheesan, ThePrint has learnt. His Facebook post thanking Kerala voters for the mandate was flooded with comments supporting Satheesan.
Everything favoured the leader as the AICC announced Satheesan as the 13th Chief Minister of Kerala on Thursday. This propels the Leader of Opposition to the top post, surpassing two senior leaders with administrative experience.
Reacting to the news, Satheesan did not forget to thank both Venugopal and Ramesh Chennithala.
Now, he will face the challenges that come with the post. These challenges will be in administration as well as in the state’s complex community politics.
“It’s team UDF and lakhs of Congress workers who led me to this role. I am indebted to them for that. The people of Kerala gave me a huge responsibility. We will do everything that we promised them. We will work hard to begin a new era for the state,” Satheesan said Thursday, in a media address at Cantonment House, the official residence of the LoP.
From an MLA to CM
Hailing from Nettoor in Ernakulam district, Satheesan’s political journey began through student politics and later with an unsuccessful candidature in the 1996 Kerala polls. He tasted success from Paravur in 2001. Since then, he has emerged victorious from the seat in consecutive polls, winning by vote margins of over-20,000 in the last two elections.
Satheesan became the LoP, succeeding Chennithala, in 2021. He took the post after the Congress’s two consecutive assembly poll defeats. He was appointed nearly two weeks after the Youth Congress wrote to the All India Congress Committee, calling for a change in the party’s leadership.
However, the 61-year-old’s ascendancy to the chief ministership assumes significance as he comes with no prior experience as a minister.
Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala, on the other hand, holds the distinction of being the youngest minister in Kerala’s history. Chennithala became the state’s rural development minister at the age of 28 in 1986. He later held ministerial posts across departments—home, vigilance, prisons, and fire & rescue services (2014-2016). He was also KPCC president from 2005 to 2014, before becoming Leader of Opposition (2016-2021). He also served as the AICC in charge of Maharashtra.
Venugopal was the state’s tourism and devaswom minister from 2004 to 2006, and Union minister of state for power (2011-2012) and civil aviation (2012-2014). Currently, he also holds one of the most powerful roles as AICC general secretary (organisation).
Despite a lack of administrative experience, Satheesan’s popularity stems from his image as the strategist behind the UDF’s victory.
Since he became LoP, the UDF has won four of the five bypolls in Thrikkakara, Puthuppally, Palakkad, and Nilambur, losing only in Thrissur’s Chelakkara constituency.
In Nilambur—the seat previously held by the LDF—Satheesan ultimately emerged as the kingmaker.
Satheesan decided to keep P.V. Anvar away from the Nilambur assembly bypoll. The IUML and some Congress leaders wanted Anvar accommodated in the UDF, but Satheesan didn’t allow it. Previously represented by Anvar, Nilambur faced bypolls after he resigned, following a fallout with the LDF. The decision to keep Anvar out eventually proved right. The UDF won, without his support.
The episode marked Satheesan’s ascendancy. It was widely seen as proof of his ability to take tough decisions. Within months, the UDF swept the 2025 local body polls, four months before the assembly polls. It won four of the six corporations.
This success was repeated in the recently concluded assembly polls. Before polling, Satheesan declared that the UDF would return to power with over 100 seats. He even announced that he would retire from politics if the UDF did not win, becoming the face of the UDF’s campaign.
One of the most crucial campaign lines that worked in the UDF’s favour was the leader maintaining that the Kerala Left was not the real Left. He said that it had become the extreme Right. He also maintained that many Left supporters would shift to the UDF.
In the end, it all came true.
At least four veteran CPI(M) leaders contested as UDF Independents in the assembly polls, all then going on to win Left bastions for the UDF.
Satheesan told ThePrint: “We also claimed that we are the ‘Nehruvian Left’ and that the current administration is ‘Right-Extreme’. Many left fellow-travellers shifted to us. That is the difference. This is why I predicted more than a dozen ministers would lose—and 13 ministers did lose their seats.”
The rise & the run-ins
While known for his tough decisions, Satheesan was once known, even among his party functionaries, for his ‘arrogance’.
However, a Congress functionary, whom ThePrint spoke to after the assembly polls, said, “V.D. Satheesan was able to set the narrative, early on. The people voted for his leadership. It was not about arrogance, but about taking a strong stance when needed.”
He added that the 30-day ‘Puthuyuga Yatra (New Age March)’ that Satheesan undertook in February this year showed a different side of him. One that was approachable.
An AICC functionary previously told ThePrint how Satheesan was updating himself on ‘Gen Z lingo’, preparing to connect better with younger voters in the run-up to the polls.
While the leader enjoys support from the public and the IUML, it has not been easy for him. He has had repeated run-ins with a section of the Congress’s senior leaders, as well as community leaders.
For instance, the tensions between former KPCC president K. Sudhakaran and Satheesan played out publicly multiple times. Their fallouts were mainly over organisational appointments.
Once, Sudhakaran reportedly used a foul word to describe Satheesan. Reportedly, following the Puthuppally bypoll victory, the two publicly locked horns over who should address the press conference.
In the chief minister’s race, Sudhakaran openly supported Venugopal, as did Vadakara MP Shafi Parambil. For his position, Parambil, one of the party’s popular young voices, faced backlash on social media. Many branded him a “betrayer” as Shafi was considered a loyalist to Satheesan.
Satheesan also faced opposition from community leaders.
One of the initial criticisms of the Congress’s decision to appoint him as CM came from the chief of the Nair Service Society (NSS)—G. Sukumaran Nair. In a press conference, Nair accused the Congress of flouting party traditions and the democratic process. The party, he added, had not taken into consideration the choice of a majority of its MLAs. He also said that the decision demonstrated the IUML’s hold over the Congress leadership.
During the past few years, Vellappally Natesan, general secretary of Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam, a major socio-cultural organisation for the Ezhava community in Kerala, has also been seen clashing with Satheesan. In one of these clashes, Natesan sparked controversy after saying other communities were living in fear in the Muslim-majority Malappuram. Satheesan hit back, saying community leaders should not become tools of communalism. Natesan then responded by calling Satheesan “arrogant”, saying that he lacked political experience and maturity.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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