V D Satheesan is Kerala Chief Minister; swearing-in on Monday
**Ramesh Chennithala has told the AICC that he would not be joining the Cabinet.
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Swearing-in on Monday
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IT was announced by the AICC in New Delhi that V D Satheesan has been chosen as the Chief Minister of Kerala.
Vadassery Damodaran Satheesan (born 31 May 1964), a lawyer succeeded Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala as the Leader of the Opposition following the 2021 Kerala Legislative Assembly election until 2025. He also served as vice president of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee.
Early life and career
Satheesan was born to K. Damodara Menon and V. Vilasini Amma in a Nair family on 31 May 1964 in Nettoor, Kochi. He completed his primary education at Panangad High School, undergraduate studies at Sacred Heart College, Thevara, and postgraduate studies in social work (MSW) at Rajagiri College of Social Sciences.
He then completed his Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from Kerala Law Academy Law College and Master of Laws (LLM) from Government Law College, Thiruvananthapuram.
For approximately 10 years, Satheesan practised law in the Kerala High Court. He is married to R. Lakshmi Priya, and the couple has a daughter Unnimaya.
Political career
Satheesan was the chairman of the Mahatma Gandhi University Union during 1986-1987. He has also served as the secretary for the National Students' Union.
V. D. Satheesan's political debut was in 1996 when he lost to Communist Party of India candidate P. Raju in the Kerala Legislative Assembly elections from Paravur, which was a communist stronghold.
Satheesan was first elected to the Kerala Legislative Assembly in 2001 when he was practising as an advocate in the Kerala High Court.
In the 2006 Kerala Legislative Assembly election, he won the election in Paravur Constituency against K. M. Dinakaran.
In the next Kerala Legislative Assembly in 2011, he was again elected by defeating Pannyan Raveendran of the Communist Party of India by 11,349 votes.
In 2016, he was re-elected as MLA from the Paravur constituency by defeating Sarada Mohan of the Communist Party of India by a margin of 20,634 votes. He served as the chief whip of the Indian National Congress in the 12th Assembly.
In 2021, he was elected to the Kerala legislative assembly again for the fifth time from the Paravur constituency by defeating M. T. Nixon of the Communist Party of India by a margin of 22000 votes.
On 22 May 2021, the Congress Working Committee declared V. D. Satheesan as the Leader of the Opposition in the 15th Kerala Legislative Assembly. He is well known for debating against T. M. Thomas Isaac.
2026 Kerala Legislative Assembly election
In the 2026 Kerala Legislative Assembly election, Satheesan led the United Democratic Front (UDF) to a landslide victory, securing an absolute majority with 102 seats in the 140-member assembly. This victory unseated the Left Democratic Front (LDF) after its ten-year tenure.
Individually, he contested from the Paravur constituency for the sixth consecutive time. He secured victory with a margin of 20,600 votes, polling a total of 78,658 votes against the LDF candidate E.T. Taison, who received 58,058 votes.
Within the Congress, Satheesan is widely regarded as a strong organiser and campaign strategist. Party leaders credit him with helping revive the UDF’s political momentum through a series of electoral gains, including key by-election victories and the alliance’s strong performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in Kerala.
His supporters also point to his efforts in broadening the alliance’s social outreach and reconnecting with communities that had drifted away from the Congress in recent years.
During the Assembly campaign, Satheesan consistently foregrounded issues of secularism and positioned the UDF as an alternative to both majority and minority communal politics. He also sought to energise party workers and alliance partners through the “Team UDF” slogan, which became a central theme of the campaign.
Despite being considered a frontrunner in previous power transitions within the Congress, Satheesan had missed out on key opportunities in the past, including a possible ministerial role during the Oommen Chandy government.
His elevation as Chief Minister is therefore being viewed by many within the party as the culmination of a long political journey marked by persistence, organisational work, and electoral success.
