Congress leader and the Leader of Opposition in the outgoing Kerala Assembly, VD Satheesan, is set to become the next Chief Minister of Kerala, announced state Congress in-charge Deepa Das Munshi on Thursday (May 14). The announcement was made ten days after the results of the Kerala Assembly elections were declared.
The party grappled with its chief ministerial pick and had held several rounds of discussions with local leaders and former party chiefs in the state. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had previously met several leaders from Kerala and around eight former state unit chiefs to ascertain the ground situation.
The three main contenders for the post of chief minister were Satheesan, AICC general secretary KC Venugopal, and Ramesh Chennithala.
Who is VD Satheesan?
Satheesan was the prominent face of the UDF campaign in the recent Assembly elections, in which the front won 102 of the 140 seats. Satheesan won the Paravur Assembly seat in Ernakulam district for the sixth time in a row in 2026 by defeating Communist Party of India's (CPI) ET Taison Master with a margin of 20,600 votes.
Born in 1964 in Nettoor near Kochi, Satheesan comes from a Congress background rooted in grassroots politics rather than Delhi power circles. He is a trained lawyer and social worker and entered politics through the Kerala Students Union (KSU) before steadily climbing the Congress ladder.
Later, he became active in the Youth Congress and gradually built a reputation as a sharp speaker and aggressive political organiser. Interestingly, VD Satheesan represented the Paravur Assembly constituency since 2001 and over the years established himself as one of the Congress’s strongest legislative voices in Kerala.
Kerala Assembly Election Results 2026
The United Democratic Front (UDF) secured a decisive mandate in the recent Kerala Assembly elections, winning 102 seats. The Congress emerged as the single largest party with 63 seats, while the Left Democratic Front (LDF), which had won 99 seats in 2021, was reduced to 35 seats.
Also Read: Who is VD Satheesan, the Paravur MLA set to become Kerala’s new Chief Minister?
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