VD Satheesan As CM: How Congress Ducked A Karnataka Repeat In Kerala

Last Updated:May 14, 2026, 13:34 IST

In Karnataka, the Congress had prioritised MLA numbers. In Kerala, however, it chose differently.

For nearly 10 days after the Congress-led UDF swept Kerala, the party looked dangerously close to replaying a familiar script. The numbers inside the legislature party appeared to favour KC Venugopal. But on Thursday, the Congress high command chose VD Satheesan as Chief Minister, a decision many within the party see as a conscious attempt to avoid the kind of lingering power struggle that has troubled the Congress government in Karnataka since 2023.

According to sources, Congress MP Sonia Gandhi was also asked for advice while deliberations were underway and she suggested the party should go with someone who is able to keep the party together in the state. Soon after, the decision was clear: Satheesan was picked as the party’s Kerala CM name.

The comparison with Karnataka, however, is difficult to ignore. In both states, the Congress faced a similar question after victory: should the party reward the leader who rebuilt the organisation and led the campaign, or should it go with the candidate who enjoyed stronger backing among MLAs?

In Kerala, the Congress appears to have decided that repeating the Karnataka formula could come at a political cost.

The Karnataka Template That Continued To Haunt Congress

After the Congress’s emphatic victory in Karnataka in 2023, the biggest battle was not against the BJP but inside the party itself.

DK Shivakumar was widely credited with reviving the Congress organisation in Karnataka after years of setbacks. As state Congress chief, he played a central role in mobilising cadres, fundraising, coalition-building and leading the campaign machinery. Many Congress workers believed he had earned the Chief Minister’s post through years of political groundwork.

But when the time came to choose the CM, the Congress high command picked Siddaramaiah.

The main reason was legislative support. A larger section of MLAs backed Siddaramaiah, who was seen as the party’s tallest mass leader in the state. Shivakumar eventually accepted the Deputy Chief Minister’s role after prolonged negotiations, but reports of a “rotational CM arrangement" and continuing rivalry never fully disappeared.

Even three years later, periodic speculation over leadership change continues to surface in Karnataka politics, forcing the Congress leadership to repeatedly deny internal tensions.

That experience appears to have influenced how the Congress approached Kerala.

How VD Satheesan Became The Face Of Congress’s Kerala Revival

When the Congress suffered defeat in the 2021 Kerala Assembly election, the party leadership handed VD Satheesan the role of Leader of Opposition.

At that time, the choice itself was seen as a generational shift. Satheesan projected a more aggressive opposition style compared to the Congress’s earlier leadership in Kerala. He frequently took the fight directly to the CPI(M) government over corruption allegations, governance issues, law-and-order controversies and financial management.

Over the next few years, Satheesan increasingly emerged as the public face of the UDF opposition campaign.

Congress workers across Kerala often viewed him as the leader who brought energy back into the party’s state unit after years of factional fatigue. During the election campaign too, Satheesan remained at the forefront of rallies, media outreach and political messaging.

By the time the UDF returned to power, many within the Congress believed Satheesan had become inseparable from the party’s comeback narrative.

Yet, Many MLAs Reportedly Backed KC Venugopal

Despite Satheesan’s public popularity, internal party equations were more complicated.

Several reports suggested that around 45 Congress MLAs were leaning towards KC Venugopal for the Chief Minister’s post. Venugopal, currently one of the most powerful leaders in the Congress organisation nationally, enjoys enormous influence within the party structure and maintains close access to the central leadership.

For the Congress high command, this created a dilemma similar to Karnataka.

Should the party prioritise the legislative arithmetic inside the Congress Legislature Party? Or should it reward the leader who had become the public face of the campaign and the symbol of the party’s revival?

In Karnataka, the Congress had prioritised MLA numbers. In Kerala, however, it chose differently.

Why Public Perception Became Crucial In Kerala

One major reason appears to have been public sentiment. As uncertainty over the CM choice dragged on, signs of unease began emerging within sections of the Congress cadre. Posters reportedly appeared in parts of Kerala warning the leadership against sidelining Satheesan despite his role in the UDF victory.

The concern within the party was that if the Congress overlooked the leader most associated with the victory campaign, it could demoralise workers and create the impression that grassroots political effort mattered less than organisational lobbying in Delhi.

Unlike Karnataka, where Siddaramaiah remained an undisputed mass leader with a large independent support base, Kerala’s political mood appeared more strongly tied to the idea of Satheesan as the architect of the UDF resurgence. That distinction likely mattered to the Congress leadership.

Another important factor was the position taken by the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), the Congress’s most important ally in Kerala.

Reports indicated that senior IUML leaders privately conveyed to the Congress leadership that Satheesan enjoyed wider public acceptability as Chief Minister. The League’s backing carried significant weight because coalition management is central to Kerala politics.

The Congress leadership was aware that any perception of ignoring the popular face of the campaign could create avoidable tensions not just inside the Congress, but within the broader UDF alliance as well.

Kerala’s coalition dynamics are often more sensitive to public messaging and consensus-building than simple internal MLA arithmetic.

Lessons Learnt From Karnataka?

The Kerala decision suggests the Congress may have absorbed an important lesson from Karnataka.

In Karnataka, the party formed the government comfortably, but the unresolved Siddaramaiah–Shivakumar rivalry continues to cast a shadow over governance and party unity. Leadership speculation repeatedly distracted from the government’s political messaging.

The Congress leadership likely wanted to avoid beginning a new Kerala government under similar circumstances.

By choosing Satheesan despite reports of stronger MLA support for Venugopal, the party signalled that electoral leadership and grassroots political work would carry weight in leadership decisions.

It was also a message to party workers nationally: the leader who builds momentum on the ground will not necessarily be sidelined after victory.

Will The Kerala Pick Change Congress’s Future Approach?

The Kerala episode could eventually become more than just a state leadership decision. For a Congress party trying to rebuild itself across India, the choice between organisational power and grassroots legitimacy is becoming increasingly important. Kerala presented a test case where the leadership chose political perception over internal legislative arithmetic.

That does not mean factional tensions inside the Kerala Congress have disappeared. Venugopal remains one of the party’s most influential national leaders and is expected to continue playing a major role in both government and organisation. Meanwhile, sources say party MLA Ramesh Chennithala, who was also vying for the CM post, is upset and would not attend the Congress Legislative Party meeting in Kerala.

But politically, the Congress seems to have concluded that denying Satheesan the Chief Minister’s post after the UDF’s comeback victory would have carried greater risks.

Whether that helps Kerala avoid Karnataka-style instability will only become clear in the coming years. But for now, the Congress appears to have decided that rewarding the face of the campaign was the safer political choice than repeating an experiment that continues to trouble it in Karnataka.

News india VD Satheesan As CM: How Congress Ducked A Karnataka Repeat In Kerala

Read More