Nearly There, Then Not; Congress’ Long History of Last Minute Twists in Kerala

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
In the Congress party, the road to power has often resembled Kerala’s monsoon, one moment bright sunshine, the next moment a sudden downpour. And as the high-stakes race for Kerala’s next Chief Minister shifts to Delhi, old timers in the party are once again reminded that in Congress politics, the cup has frequently slipped just before it touched the lip.

The suspense this time revolves around V.D. Satheesan, Ramesh Chennithala and K.C. Venugopal, all three now firmly in the reckoning after the Congress-led UDF scripted a historic victory in the May 4 Assembly polls.

Few had predicted the scale of the political tsunami.

The Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left Front, which had confidently hoped for an unprecedented third straight term, was swept aside as the UDF stormed to a staggering 102 seats.

The Left Front was reduced to 35, while the BJP-led NDA reopened its account with three seats.

Now, as the scene shifts from Kerala to the power corridors of Delhi, the million-dollar question is who will finally land the prized chair.

If Congress’ history is any indication, certainty is the one thing nobody should have.

In 2011, minutes before Congress legislators met to elect their leader, Ramesh Chennithala stunned even close aides by walking out before television cameras and announcing that he was not in the race. That made Oommen Chandy’s elevation a mere formality.

But Chennithala did not disappear into the political wilderness. Three years later, he returned dramatically to the Cabinet, with Chandy parting with the powerful Home portfolio.

Ironically, that very same year, V.D. Satheesan too experienced the bitter taste of political disappointment when, despite expectations, he was left out of Chandy’s ministry altogether.

A decade earlier, in 2001, it was Oommen Chandy himself who endured a similar slight. Though widely credited with scripting A.K. Antony’s impressive victory, Chandy surprisingly failed to secure a Cabinet berth.

Then came 2021, perhaps Chennithala’s cruellest near-miss. As Leader of Opposition, he led the UDF campaign, believing the tide had turned against Vijayan.

Instead, Vijayan rewrote Kerala’s political history by becoming the first Chief Minister to retain power consecutively.

To add salt to the wound, when the opposition leadership was later decided, the party high command chose Satheesan over Chennithala.

And now comes another Congress irony. Mallikarjuna Kharge had, in March, reportedly directed sitting Lok Sabha members against entering state electoral battles. Yet among the three names now before him is K.C. Venugopal, sitting MP from Alappuzha and one of the party high command’s most influential strategists.

Should Venugopal emerge as the choice, Congress may well end up rewriting its own unwritten rulebook overnight.

And in Kerala’s Congress politics, once one rule bends, everyone immediately begins checking if the next one can too.