4 min readMay 15, 2026 03:20 PM IST
First published on: May 15, 2026 at 03:20 PM IST
After 10 years and 10 long days, Congress has its Chief Minister in Kerala. The state’s Congressmen were seasoned enough to handle the 10 years without power. The ten-day wait took its toll. After an overwhelming poll win, three chief ministerial contenders emerged, and their three-cornered contest made the electoral battle look tame.
Few state units of the Grand Old Party have handled inner-party conflicts as well as Kerala’s. The Congress here has a history of groups that coexist, bicker, squabble, fight, negotiate, and manage conflicts. The loser always finds the political space to wait for another day. This time, unusually, the battling leaders did not seem to have a fallback position. The CM race looked like an all-out war.
Congress watchers framed this newfound aggression in familiar terms, such as greed for power and personal ambition, aggravated by the party’s serial electoral misfortunes nationwide. Media watchers added that the battle played out 24×7 because there were flood-lit battle grounds — television and YouTube channels.
These apart, there could be an unstated reason. The last CM, Pinarayi Vijayan, did something fundamental to the office. Over his decade-long tenure, his CMO became the central pole in a way Kerala has never seen before. Post-Pinarayi, the top job is bigger than ever. No wonder the contenders were fighting to the finish. The chair is almost a throne.
Satheesan’s ascent, therefore, is not just a power shift from the left front that overstayed to the Congress coalition. He is in a position to preside over more power than any previous Congress CM. Now, what would he do with this excess power? Continue to wield it like any natural politician or reset the CM’s office back to its pre-Pinarayi mode?
One remarkable instance of the winner shedding excess power in Indian politics happened when the Janata Party formed the government after the Emergency in 1977. Law Minister Shanti Bhushan moved the 44th Constitutional Amendment to undo much of the 42nd that marked the authoritarian interlude. Newly elected to the Lok Sabha, the Janata Party didn’t have the numbers in the upper House to complete the legislative process. Congress rose to the occasion, its Rajya Sabha members voted to right the wrong.
This was a singular moment of commitment by the rulers to restore democracy. For the humbled Opposition, a graceful act to redeem and live down a visible phase of disgrace. The Kerala issue is far less dramatic and compelling. If CM Satheesan chooses to just quietly run the excessively endowed CMO he inherited, he might even be praised for the same reasons his predecessor was — as a decisive, firm leader. That would be sad and might reverse some unusual gains Kerala takes for granted.
After its formation in 1956, in its early decades, the state elected a series of shaky governments that almost never completed their full term. But through the famously fluid politics, parties learned the fine art of forming coalitions that eventually stabilised into a pattern of alternating in power. The CM was just about the first among equals, often delegating vital portfolios like home. It is also thanks to such ease of governance that the state achieved all that it is credited with. CM Satheesan is far too well-read not to know this.
The writer is chief political cartoonist, The Indian Express. ep.unny@expressindia.com
