V.D. Satheesan counters Kerala CM’s witticism about alleged leadership power struggles in Congress

Kerala's Opposition Leader V.D. Satheesan criticizes Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for attempting to sow divisions within Congress leadership.

Kerala’s Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan has said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan should “remember” the latter’s ‘acrimonious and protracted spat’ with veteran communist leader V.S. Achuthanandan over chief ministership when attempting to discern divisions in the Congress leadership in Kerala. 

Mr. Satheesan’s comment at a press conference on Thursday (February 6, 2025) was a political riposte to Mr. Vijayan’s attempt at witticism about an alleged power struggle within the Congress over the prospective position of Chief Minister after the 2026 Assembly polls.

The political theatre that went viral on social and conventional media played out at a star-studded function on Wednesday in Thiruvananthapuram to honour industrialist Ravi Pillai.  

The welcoming speaker ignited an unscripted chain of events by stating, apparently off the cuff, that Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala, who was on the dais, would hopefully become Kerala’s next Chief Minister. 

The speaker also inquired twice whether Mr. Satheesan, who briefly appeared at the function, had departed the venue, sensationally flipping the script on the carefully choreographed function.  

The welcome speech intrigued Mr. Vijayan, who was seated near Mr. Chennithala. When his turn came to speak, Mr. Vijayan quipped that the “welcoming speaker” had dropped a bomb on the Congress. “He could not do a greater disservice to Mr. Chennithala. The welcoming speaker had promised not to dwell on politics. I counsel him he should have adhered to the assurance,” Mr. Vijayan said.

The Chief Minister’s statement elicited laughter from the audience and chuckles from the dignitaries on the stage.