Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala has been replaced by younger VD Satheesan as Opposition leader in Kerala in what is perceived here as generational change forced by the party High Command after a lot of dithering during more than two weeks after election results were announced.

This is tectonic shift in the Congress riven by factional feud led by senior-most leader Oommen Chandy on one side and Ramesh Chenntihala himself on the other. In fact, both had closed ranks after it emerged that the party High Command was converging on a third choice and common beta noire – Satheesan.

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Satheesan had garnered the support of young party MLAs elected more in numbers during this election, after Chennithala refused to stand down owing moral responsibility for the humiliating defeat the party suffered in the Assembly elections that the High Command wanted it to win at any cost.

Meanwhile, Chennithala was not available in the State capital for comment but said in a statement issued later that he has learnt that the High Command has nominated Satheesan as leader of the parliamentary party. He welcomed the decision and wished him the very best in his new capacity.

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Constituents of the Congress-led United Democratic Front, the Opposition in the State Assembly, have come on record one by one welcoming the choice of Satheesan as their leader. Among them was PK Kunhalikkutty, leader of the Indian Union Muslim League, who welcomed the ‘generational change.’

The change in leadership was inevitable not only because the party suffered a defeat it could afford least at a time when it was losing relevance in other States but also because of the wholesale change in the ruling Left Democratic Font (LDF) brought about by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who did not allow even a highly decorated Health Minister KK Shailaja a berth in the new cabinet.

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