Congress Names VD Satheesan as Next Kerala Chief Minister

VD Satheesan will be the next Chief Minister of Keralam as Congress announced him as the Legislative Party leader of Keralam Congress on Thursday after more than a week of intense deliberations with Keralam party leader rushing back and forth to Delhi. With the announcement, Congress will proceed to form the government in the state, ending days of speculation as the top leaders tussled among themselves for the post. Congress General Secretary KC Venigopal and senior leader Ramesh Chennithala were the other leaders in the fray for state's top post. Satheesan served as the Leader of Opposition in Keralam Assembly before the UDF's decisive victory in the 2026 Keralam Assembly elections. The alliance won 102 seats in the 140-member assembly. As the next Keralam CM is announced, the Congress Keralam Committee will meet Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar today and stake claim to form the government. Satheesan won the 2026 Kerala Assembly election from the Paravur constituency, securing his sixth consecutive term as an MLA. Satheesan secured 78,658 votes and defeated CPI candidate ET Taison Master by a margin of 20,600 votes. He has represented the Paravur constituency for 25 years, having first won the seat in 2001. As the Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Legislative Assembly since 2021, Satheesan emerged as a prominent face of the United Democratic Front ( UDF ) campaign against the ruling Left government. He has been a vocal critic of the state government on various political and governance issues. He also served as the Vice President of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee and succeeded Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala as the Leader of the Opposition after the 2021 Kerala Assembly election. Born in 1964 in Nettoor near Kochi, Satheesan is a lawyer by profession. He began his political journey through the Kerala Students Union (KSU) and later became active in the Youth Congress. (ANI)