VD Satheesan will become the next Chief Minister of Kerala, the Congress announced on Thursday after 10 days of intense discussions and meetings.
The tension finally ended on Thursday morning when the Congress announced Satheesan, over other main contenders KC Venugopal and Ramesh Chennithala, as the leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) and the choice for the Kerala CM post.
In his first statement after the announcement, VD Satheesan, 61, said he would take into confidence senior Congress leaders and candidates for the top post, KC Venugopal and Ramesh Chennithala.
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VD Satheesan was selected as the leader of the Congress Legislature Party and the choice for Kerala CM due to his strong performance as Leader of the Opposition, broad public favor shown in the exit polls and significant support from Congress allies such as the IUML.
VD Satheesan is credited with helping lead the Congress to an emphatic victory, becoming a prominent face of the UDF campaign and serving as a vocal critic of the outgoing Left government on political and governance issues.
The IUML, along with other allies, reportedly supported VD Satheesan, indicating that he had wider public acceptance. Their support was essential for the Congress to retain its majority and core support in the Assembly.
VD Satheesan expressed that he does not see this position as a personal achievement but as divine. He expressed his intention to gain the confidence of leaders like KC Venugopal and Ramesh Chennithala and emphasized the need for joint efforts to build a new Kerala.
Welcoming the decision wholeheartedly, KC Venugopal congratulated VD Satheesan and said that as a sincere Congressman, he and others fully stand behind the party’s choice. He believes that Satheesan’s leadership can fulfill the aspirations of the people of Kerala.
“I don’t see this position as a personal achievement but as something divine. It was KC Venugopal who coordinated all AICC activities. His support was immense. Ramesh Chennithala is also my leader. I will take them all into complete confidence…,” Satheesan said.
A decision on Kerala’s next chief minister has been awaited since May 4, when the Congress-led UDF won 102 seats out of 140, more than a two-thirds majority.
The Congress has 63 MLAs in the 140-member Kerala Assembly. Its allies Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) has 22, Kerala Congress (KEC) eight and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) three seats.
Why Congress chose Satheesan as Kerala CM?
VD Satheesan, top pick for CM’
Ahead of the 2026 Kerala assembly elections, exit polls have shown VD Satheesan as the top choice for CM after outgoing CM Pinarayi Vijayan. Axis My India Kerala polls showed that 21 percent of those polled preferred Satheesan as the CM choice, while at least 33 percent wanted Vijayan to continue as chief minister.
Satheesan was also the choice of 47 out of 63 Congress MLAs, according to NDTV. The report added that he is also considered a “people’s candidate”.
2. Support from Congress allies
Satheesan was reportedly supported by the party’s ally – IUML (22 seats), Kerala Congress (7 seats) and Revolutionary Socialist Party (3) – a total of 32 MLAs in the new assembly, the Congress simply could not afford to lose.
The most important of these is the IUML. A loss of support would cost Congress its majority in the 140-member assembly and critical citizen support.
According to NDTV, the ground forces of the Muslim League ensured that Rahul Gandhi won the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in 2019 and 2024 and Priyanka Gandhi won the by-election.
On Satheesan’s appointment as CM of Kerala, IUML state chief Sayyid Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal said his party “fully supports the decision of the Congress”.
3. VD Satheesan, ‘Nayakan’
The Kerala CM-elect was credited with helping lead the Congress to an emphatic victory in the 2026 assembly elections and was hailed as a “nayakan” or “hero” on posters displayed outside her state offices, NDTV reported.
He is a very experienced leader who has served as a minister at the Center as well as in the state. He was the Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing Kerala Assembly and captured the Paravur seat when he won it from the Communist Party’s P Raju by 7,434 votes in 2001, making it a Congress bastion.
Satheesan was also the main face of the UDF’s campaign against the outgoing Left government for the past five years. He emerged as a “prominent face” of the UDF campaign and remained a vocal critic of the state government on political and governance issues, according to news agency ANI.
Born in 1964 in Nettoor near Kochi, Satheesan is a lawyer by profession. He started his political journey through the Kerala Students Union (KSU) and later became active in the Youth Congress
