Thiruvananthapuram, March 4 (SocialNews.XYZ) After last week’s high-level meeting in Delhi, the Congress party in Kerala appears to have settled into a temporary calm. But if history is any indicator, such lulls have been a recurring theme in the party for nearly five decades.
The fundamental diagnosis remains unchanged — internal factionalism — only the actors keep changing. The key question now is whether the latest intervention by the party high command will lead to a different prognosis.
For over 50 years, the Congress in Kerala has been defined by factional rivalries. In the 1970s, the party was divided between the camps led by K. Karunakaran and A.K. Antony, with Antony at one point breaking away to join hands with the CPI(M). However, by the early 1980s, Antony returned, and the divide persisted — now with Oommen Chandy leading Antony’s faction.
By the 1990s, new factions emerged. Ramesh Chennithala and G. Karthikeyan formed the “reformist” group, while Vayalar Ravi led another breakaway faction. As Karunakaran aged, his son K. Muraleedharan entered state politics, and by the turn of the century, Oommen Chandy had solidified his position as the most powerful faction leader, with other groups consolidating under Chennithala.
For the next two decades, the Chandy-Chennithala rivalry defined the Congress in Kerala. However, the party slipped into further disarray after Chandy’s health declined in 2021 and Pinarayi Vijayan secured a second consecutive term as Chief Minister. By then, former Antony faction leaders V.M. Sudheeran and Mullapally Ramachandran had served as state Congress presidents, but their leadership saw further internal strife rather than stability.
In the midst of this flux, a new leadership duo emerged — K. Sudhakaran, the Kannur MP, as State Congress President, and V.D. Satheesan, a five-time legislator, as Leader of the Opposition. However, the last three years have been marked by infighting and chaos.
Then came a dramatic shift — the party high command stepped in decisively after Shashi Tharoor, the four-time Thiruvananthapuram MP, began asserting his influence. His rise triggered a realignment of factions, prompting the high command to summon senior leaders and issue a firm warning — no more public squabbling.
In a symbolic move, Sudhakaran reached out to Ramachandran, and after a private discussion, the two leaders presented a united front, declaring that their sole focus would be on bringing the Congress-led UDF back to power in the 2026 Assembly elections, starting with a strong performance in the local body elections later this year.
A media critic, speaking on condition of anonymity, remained skeptical. “Going by past experience, Congress leaders in Kerala have never been able to remain silent for long,” he noted.
He recalled a favourite quote of the late Oommen Chandy — “none except the Congress workers can defeat the Congress party. The diagnosis of the party’s troubles has remained unchanged for decades. The only thing that has changed is the actors. The real question now is whether the prognosis will be any different. Time will tell whether last week’s Delhi intervention has truly set the party on a new path.”
Source: IANS
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