Congress top brass reads Kerala leaders the riot act, warns against infighting as party devises poll strategy

New Delhi: Taking a cue from its victories in Karnataka and Telangana and lessons learnt in Haryana, Congress on Friday vowed to fight the Assembly polls next year under collective leadership, as the central leadership read the riot act to leaders with their ‘foot-in-mouth’.

Senior leaders from the state were given the message by the central leadership at a pre-election strategy meeting here where the latter acknowledged the “yearning for change” in Kerala and urged the leaders to “unitedly” focus and fight the CPI(M)-led government in the next one year.

Kerala is headed to polls in the first half of next year and the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) has been out of power since 2026. Congress allies have been complaining that the internecine war in the coalition leader has been creating trouble for their prospects.

The central leadership put a lid on questions over speculation on change in state leadership for the time being as well as on the controversy triggered by Congress Working Committee member and senior MP Shashi Tharoor’s controversial remarks in the recent days.

Sources said some of the Kerala leaders highlighted “disunity” in the state unit with leaders taking divergent positions and attacking the inner-party rivals through media. Some leaders also referred to Tharoor’s “praise” of the LDF government and his remarks on party leadership.

The central leadership made it clear that the fight in Kerala is against both the CPI(M)-led LDF and the BJP and they would not tolerate anyone crossing the ‘Lakshman Rekha’, sources said. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi told Kerala leaders to ensure that they fight unitedly.

Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal told reporters after the nearly three-hour-meeting, “The party is going ahead with collective leadership. Everything will be discussed and decided. The high command will be monitoring.”

Party General Secretary and Kerala in-charge Deepa Dasmunsi warned of “strong action” against leaders going to the media to air their “personal views”, which was echoed by Venugopal who said, “there is no freedom” for leaders to go to media and talk against party line.

There has been speculation that there could be change in Kerala leadership but Venugopal said there was no such discussions. In the meeting, sources said, Venguopal told the Kerala leaders at the outset itself the meeting was called to strategise on local body and Assembly polls and nothing else.

Kharge posted on ‘X’, “change is inevitable in Kerala. Congress has built the development paradigm and welfare model of Kerala, and we will do everything possible to bring our UDF to power. Next year, people will defeat both the oppressive and communal fronts in the state.”

Sources said Congress General Secretary and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was of the view that more women should be given opportunity to fight the local body and Assembly elections.

The emphasis on unity by the central leadership, a message also given to Assam leaders on Thursday, came against the backdrop of the party’s electoral debacle in Haryana where the state unit was in disarray while it managed to bury differences in Karnataka and Telangana where it managed to win.

For the Congress, victories in Kerala and Assam are important as the party is in the leadership role and it badly wants to regain the ground that it lost after Lok Sabha elections.