Congress Declares VD Satheesan As Opposition Leader In Kerala

After thoroughly examining the reports of Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress leader in the Rajya Sabha, and AICC general secretary MA Vaidyalingam, the party High Command has decided that the state would need a change in opposition leader.

Thiruvananthapuram: Congress on Saturday declared that VD Satheesan as the opposition leader in the Kerala Legislative Assembly. After thoroughly examining the reports of Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress leader in the Rajya Sabha, and AICC general secretary MA Vaidyalingam, the party High Command has decided that the state would need a change in leadership of the opposition.

Earlier, Both Kharge and Vaidyalingam had held meetings with the 21 newly elected Congress MLAs and sought their opinion on the matter. Both Chennithala and Satheeshan camps claimed that they had the majority backing. According to reports, the Congress state committee and most of the MPs wanted VD Satheesan as the opposition leader as only one MP was in support of incumbent opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala.

It took a lot of time for Congress to decide on the opposition leader in the state legislative assembly. The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) had faced to loss against LDF. The delay in deciding was attributed to the fight between two factions in the party. 

Old-guard Ramesh Chennithala despite wanting to remain as the opposition leader, the newcomers MLAs want a change in leader. Most of the young brigade in the assembly believed that the party was getting weaker in the state due to weak leadership. On the flip side, the Chennithala faction had the support of senior leaders in the party, but High Command had to be aptly decisive to come out with this make-shift change in the party leadership in state.