Vadassery Damodaran Satheesan, or V D Satheesan, who will be the next Kerala chief minister, was not a natural choice for the job in the way K Karunakaran, A K Antony or Oommen Chandy was. Part of the reason for that is he is unlike conventional Congress leaders in the state.
From avoiding caste forces even at the risk of sacrificing votes, to fighting the Left government single-handed, Satheesan, 61, is known among his supporters as the “prince of political stance”.
After a 10-day standoff since the election results, when on Thursday the Congress high command announced the name of the leader of the Opposition in the 2021-26 Assembly as the next chief minister, party workers across the length and breadth of the state celebrated on the streets. Over the past 10 days, it was the same public support and protests that forced the Congress central leadership to announce his name though the first preference was Congress General Secretary K C Venugopal.
Venugopal even had the support of 47 victors in the recent elections. This was out of a total of 63 elected on the Congress ticket. However, it was the common people and grassroots party workers who hit the road and protested in favour of him. This forced the party to reverse the decision and announce his name. In fact, other parties in the United Democratic Front (UDF) were also pitching for Satheesan because he was the architect of the historic 102-seat victory in the 16th Assembly elections, held last month.
However, this ground support was not built in a day. Former Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president V M Sudheeran told Business Standard that one historic statement during the elections helped him win the hearts of party workers and the public.
“He scored and won hearts the moment he said that if the Congress was not going to win 100 seats, and 12 of the Left ministers were not going to lose, he would retire from politics. Not too many politicians in India will show such confidence and take such a stance,” said Sudheeran, who was one of the senior leaders who reportedly spoke about the ground support for Satheesan.
Sudheeran said that, as a senior leader, he first noticed the calibre of Satheesan when he became chairman of the MG University Union. “He caught our attention for his fiery speeches, and later he carried the same quality into the Assembly as well, leading many debates for the party,” he added.
Born on May 31, 1964, in Nettoor, Ernakulam district, Satheesan is the son of Vadassery Damodara Menon, a former official in the forest department, and Vilasini Amma. He is a law graduate and also practised as an advocate before entering politics. His political journey started as a college union office-bearer at SH College, Thevara, and he later became chairman of the MG University Union. Later, he became national secretary of the National Students’ Union of India. He did not hold any party post, nor was he in government. Though Satheesan lost in the Paravur constituency on his electoral debut, he consistently won six consecutive Assembly elections from there — in 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016, 2021, and 2026.
It was in the early 2010s that the public started noticing his skills as legislator when he locked horns with former finance minister and Communist Party of India (Marxist) intellectual T M Thomas Isaac both inside and outside the Assembly through ideological and policy debates.
These debates ranged across economic issues, from the 2010 lottery controversy to financial management at the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board and state transport corporation debts. “Those debates won him the tag of being a great legislator, while ministership still eluded him,” said a party insider.
In fact, Satheesan never went and sought the blessings of any caste and community leader such as Vellappally Natesan of the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP) or G Sukumaran Nair of the Nair Service Society (NSS). This led to earning their dislike, and they publicly spoke against Satheesan even during the elections and after that. The SNDP is the social organisation of the Ezhava community, which constitutes an estimated 26 per cent of the state’s population, while the NSS represents the Nair community, which accounts for around 15 per cent.
This political stand gave him the identity of a secular politician, despite him being from the Nair community.
As chief minister he is likely to face many challenges — deteriorating state finances, opposition within the party, and also the opponents’narrative of him being soft on minorities.
When such concerns arise, Satheesan’s supporters expect him to repeat his earlier political view: “Even if the Arabian Sea comes roaring and rushing towards me, Satheesan will not deviate from his political stand.”
