Lok Sabha Elections 2024 | Meet the leader: K C Venugopal

KC Venugopal has taken up the challenge of winning back the Alappauzha seat that was the lone seat the Congress-led UDF lost in Kerala in 2019.

Political Party: Congress

Parliamentary Constituency: Alappuzha, Kerala

Though a native of Kannur in Kerala, AICC general secretary K C Venugopal is known for his connection with Alappuzha as he had won Assembly elections thrice — in 1996, 2001 and 2006 — and Lok Sabha elections twice — in 2009 and 2014 — from there. KC, as he is popularly known, has now taken up the challenge of winning back the Alappauzha seat that was the lone seat the Congress-led UDF lost in Kerala in 2019.

Venugopal is a Rajya Sabha member and if he wins, the Congress could lose one Rajya Sabha seat. There are speculations that this electoral contest is a bid by the 61-year-old leader to prove his popularity in Kerala as, like many other leaders, he is eyeing the Kerala chief minister post if the Congress returns to power in the 2026 Assembly polls. Venugopal, who was a former Union minister of state and a minister in Kerala, is considered to be a close confidant of Rahul Gandhi.

After his elevation as the AICC general secretary in-charge of organisation in 2019, some senior Congress leaders from Kerala used to lament over his influence on Rahul. There was even a campaign against Venugopal after the Congress faced setbacks in the Assembly polls in 2022. But he continues to enjoy the trust of Rahul.