Santosh Kumar | | Published 24.05.21, 01:28 AM
The Congress in Kerala has needed prodding from a 77-year-old to usher in a generation change in its leadership.
No, it’s not an initiative from Congress veteran Oommen Chandy, who had himself revolted against the old guard 50-odd years ago, that has brought in a younger face as the party’s new leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.
It’s none other than Marxist chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan who has, by inducting 20 new faces into his cabinet, forced the Congress to appoint 56-year-old V.D. Satheesan as its leader in the House, replacing the veteran Ramesh Chennithala.
V D Satheesan during a press conference at Ernakulam DCC office on Saturday
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After days of dithering following the rout in the recent assembly polls, the grand old party finally decided to heed the sentiments of its rank and file for leadership change, with the AICC on Saturday announcing the appointment of V D Satheesan as leader of the opposition. He replaces Ramesh Chennithala.
Though Chennithala and veteran Oommen Chandy lobbied hard to maintain the status quo, Rahul Gandhi s intervention tilted the scales in favour of Satheesan, a threetime MLA and one of the most articulate and accessible faces of the Congress party but, most importantly, someone not too closely identified with any of the groups whose chronic factionalism is one of the reasons for the party s drubbing at the polls.
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