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Neither had any administrative experience nor was ever a minister, but VD Satheesan has overshadowed his two seniors i.e. Ramesh Chennithala and KC Venugopal. It has been announced by Congress that now VD Satheesan will be the next Chief Minister of Kerala. It was being said continuously that with the support of the MLAs, KC Venugopal would be the Chief Minister. On the contrary, the final seal is in the name of V D Satheeshan. The same Satishan who could never even become the president of his university. He never became a minister in the Kerala government and did not even become the head of the state Congress, but now he is going to become the Chief Minister directly.

It is believed that the real reason behind this is his coordination with the coalition partners, his popularity at the personal level and his own contact with the public. It is being said that he is very popular among women and he has a strong hold in his assembly also. He won his first election from this seat in 2001 and since then has won 6 consecutive times. This shows that he has been very popular in his assembly also. He had left his mark as the leader of the opposition and had become popular among the public.

Satishan kept missing out on big posts

It is being told about VD Satheesan that he was the Secretary of NSUI during his student days but had lost the election for the post of President of KSU. He was a contender to become the President of Youth Congress but could never reach this post. Despite continuous activism, he did not even become the President of Kerala Congress. Not only this, he was also discussed many times for the post of minister in Oman Chandy’s government but he could not reach this post either. Finally, in the year 2021, when the top leadership of Congress started searching for leaders other than the faction of Oman Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala, then V.D. Satheesan was given a chance.

VD Satheesan, who was made the Leader of Opposition in 2021, is now going to become the Chief Minister. V D Satheesan, who studied at Pannagad High School and Sacred Heart College Life, later became Arts Club Secretary, University Union Counselor and Chairman of MG University Union. There was a time when his mind started moving away from politics and he moved towards making a career in advocacy. He wanted to start practicing law from the High Court and go to the Supreme Court but could not keep himself away from politics.

In the year 1996, Congress fielded him for the first time from Paravur. He tried but lost to Left’s P Raju by a narrow margin. Worked hard for the next five years and showed success by defeating the Left on the same seat in 2001. It was just a matter of time before getting the first victory, after that Satheeshan never looked back. In 2006, even when the Left under the leadership of VS Achuthanandan defeated the Congress badly in Kerala, Satheesan did not lose.

How did Satheesan become successful?

How well Satheesan understands Kerala was proved many times by his assessments. While all the exit polls were showing 70 to 90 seats for UDF, Satheesan was repeatedly talking about winning more than 100 seats. Earlier in the Lok Sabha elections also, his prediction had proved to be absolutely accurate. This time Satheesan had predicted that many ministers of the Pinarayi Vijayan government would lose the elections and his words also proved to be true.

In an interview given to ‘The Week’, Satheesan had told that his election campaign was based on data, organizational capacity and narrative. Satheesan worked to strengthen the network of booth committees and local workers of the Congress in Kerala. Besides, a lot of efforts were also made to reduce mutual disputes. Satheesan also worked well with the alliance partners and perhaps this is the reason why parties like IUML agreed only on his name.

staunch congressman image

In the last five years, VD Satheesan presented his views to the top leadership of Congress without any hesitation. At the same time, he strengthened the ideology of Congress in Kerala. Working on the left-leaning ideology of Pandit Nehru, he played an important role in strengthening the Congress against the Left in Kerala.

Apart from this, he played an important role in conveying the Congress’s message vociferously in the media, in rallies, meetings and advertisements. He worked towards connecting youth, women and even first time voters with the party and took the help of Congress workers in implementing all the schemes. One thing that went in Satheesan’s favor was that he went beyond just helping Congress workers and also helped his alliance partners. This thing went in his favor and his alliance partners were seen standing in his favor more than the MLAs of his own party.