Kerala Assembly Elections 2026 | Congress facing a problem of plenty for top post

The party, which has been out of power for 10 years, finds itself in a quandary when it comes to projecting a chief ministerial candidate.

With barely a week to go for the Kerala Assembly Elections, intense lobbying and tussle for the leadership role are happening in the Congress, which heads the United Democratic front (UDF) coalition.

Even before a single vote has been cast, the party which has been out of power for 10 years, is facing a 'problem of plenty' when it comes to projecting a chief ministerial candidate.

Unlike in the neighboring Karnataka where the leadership tussle narrowed down to two after the 2023 election — Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar, in Kerala, there are many aspirants for the top job.

Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly V D Satheeshan was candid while admitting projection of some leaders as the chief ministerial candidate of the Congress is "unfair".

His statements follows clamours from senior party leaders like P J Kurien and K Sudhakaran who made public statements backing former Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala for the top job.

On the basis of seniority and experience, Chennithala should ideally have been the logical choice. But with the Left Democratic Front (LDF) retaining power in 2021 — which was incidentally the first time it has happened in Kerala's political history which has seen the LDF and the UDF alternating power — Chennithala's image took a severe drubbing.

It was then that Satheeshan stepped into the big role, and his appointment as the leader of the Congress Legislature Party after the 2021 Assembly elections and subsequently as the Leader of the Opposition was seen as part of a major organisational revamp intended to bring fresh leadership to the State Congress.

Satheeshan deserves credit for galvanising a party which was pulling in different directions, especially after being out of power for almost a decade.

In the run-up to the Assembly polls, winds of change were effected in the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee too, with Sunny Joseph replacing veteran Sudhakaran as the State party chief in May, 2025.

Incidentally, both of them nurture leadership ambitions and Sudhakaran, who is an incumbent MP, made his CM aspirations clear when he lobbied for the party ticket which was denied by the high command.

Senior leader K Muraleedharan, who is contesting from Vattiyoorkavu, may not be in the same bracket as others when it comes to the CM's post, but nobody can doubt his credentials.

Unlike a cadre-based party like the CPI(M) which clearly goes by convention when it comes to picking the top leader, the Congress is well-known for its 'high command' culture.

Whenever party MLA's have failed to arrive at a consensus to choose their leader, the high command is known to impose a leader of its choice, mostly someone who would not have contested the election, who could possibly be an MP, but someone who is ranked very high in the pecking order of the top brass.

In the current scenario, that 'consensus' candidate could be none other than party's general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal, who is an MP and the 'man Friday' of Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.

Venugopal has been silently making his leadership ambitions clear — be it through highlighting rising cost of living in Kerala by visiting a housewife and cooking tapioca.

Leaders not contesting elections and becoming Chief Minister is not new to Kerala's political history.

C Achutha Menon was the first non-MLA to become the Kerala Chief Minister in 1969 while A K Antony twice occupied the top post (1977 and 1995) before winning bypolls later.

The most recent instance happened in 1996 when E K Nayanar was pulled out of political sabbatical and thrust the top chair after CPI(M)'s chief ministerial candidate V S Achuthanandan bit the dust at electoral hustings.

Congress-led UDF may or may not return to power. But when it comes to choosing the legislature party leader, it will definitely have to deal with a problem of plenty.