Congress MLA V D Satheesan to be Leader of Opposition in Kerala Assembly

The decision is a setback to groups in Congress led by prominent leaders like Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennitala

A long-awaited generation shift in the Congress in Kerala has happened with 57-year-old V D Satheesan being made the Leader of the Opposition in the state replacing senior leader Ramesh Chennithala. A change in Kerala PCC president replacing Mullappally Ramachandran is also likely to happen soon with Lok Sabha MP K Sudhakaran being one of the front runners. Congress high command took the decision to make Satheesan Congress legislative party leader considering the strong demand from majority of the young Congress leaders in Kerala and overcoming the strong demand by a section of senior leaders for retaining Chennithala. Rahul Gandhi was also reported to have favoured a change. The decision is a setback to the groupism in the Congress as the prominent groups led by Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala were reported to be pressing for retaining Chennithala.

A long-awaited generation shift in the Congress in Kerala has happened with 57 year old V D Satheesan being made the leader of opposition in the state, replacing senior leader Ramesh Chennithala.

A change in Kerala PCC president replacing Mullappally Ramachandran is also likely to happen soon with Lok Sabha MP K Sudhakaran being one of the front runners.

Congress high command took the decision to make Satheesan Congress legislative party leader considering the strong demand from majority of the young Congress leaders in Kerala and overcoming the strong demand by a section of senior leaders for retaining Chennithala. Rahul Gandhi was also reported to have favoured a change.

The decision is a setback to the groupism in the Congress as the prominent groups led by Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala were reported to be pressing for retaining Chennithala.

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The middle-aged and young leaders of the party had overwhelmingly welcomed the decision to make Satheesan the new opposition leader. Senior leaders like Oommen Chandy also welcomed the decision. There were unconfirmed reports that Chennithala had congratulated Satheesan over phone.

A native of Ernakulam district in Kerala, Satheesan is a five time legislator from Paravur in the district. A post-graduate in law, Satheesan is considered to be well studied leader and enjoyed mass connect. He entered mainstream politics mainly through trade unions and had held the president post of over 20 trade unions. He had been fighting against environmental issues also.

Satheesan said that he was confident of reviving the Congress from the setbacks it now faced. The opposition would be giving unconditional support to all efforts of the government in fighting Covid. An uncompromised fight against communalism will be launched, he said.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that considering Satheesan's performance in the Assembly so far, he could be a good opposition leader.

Indicating that a change in Kerala PCC president post is also likely to happen soon, Ramachandran said that he had already conveyed to the party national leadership that he would accept any decision for the larger interest of the party. Sudhakaran had even openly expressed his wish to be KPCC president.

The decision of the CPI(M) to bring in more new faces to the forefront was also putting pressure on the Congress leaders to given way for the next generation.