Aiyar backs Satheesan, critiques Congress leadership in Kerala
Aiyar backs Satheesan, critiques Congress leadership in Kerala
Mani Shankar Aiyar hints at retracting his Vijayan projection if Satheesan is made UDF CM candidate, while warning on Congress prospects in Kerala.
Mani Shankar Aiyar has once again waded into Kerala’s delicate political waters, challenging both state and national Congress leadership. He said he would retract his controversial forecast of a third term for Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan if the Congress endorses Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan as the UDF’s Chief Minister candidate instead of AICC general secretary KC Venugopal, whom Rahul Gandhi is said to admire. Aiyar’s praise for Satheesan as the only “secular socialist” within the Congress in Kerala came as he framed him as occupying the right wing of the Congress and the left wing of the Communist party, a positioning that appears aimed at shaping the party’s unity ahead of elections.
The statements, delivered at a press conference alongside Local Self-Governments Minister MB Rajesh and CPI(M) leader TM Thomas Isaac, seemed calibrated to forestall a fractured presentation by the Congress and to bolster a united front in the UDF. Aiyar argued that endorsing Satheesan could help the Congress offer a more coherent alternative to the LDF, which he described as having broken the revolving-door politics by securing a second consecutive term—the first such occurrence in Kerala’s history. He added that the Congress currently lacks the capacity to defeat the LDF and that the party’s internal differences are more visible than ever, something he contrasted with the LDF’s internal discipline.
Aiyar framed himself as a gadfly rather than a conventional party insider, urging reporters not to reduce him to someone merely interested in internecine feuding despite criticism from senior leaders like Ramesh Chennithala who has called him an outsider. He painted a bleak picture of the UDF’s electoral prospects, suggesting the opposition bloc must rethink its leadership choices if it hopes to present a viable alternative to Kerala voters. The remarks come amid a broader pattern of provocative commentary from Aiyar that has previously strained the Congress’s public image, while also drawing attention to the party’s ongoing leadership debates in Kerala and beyond.
