Thiruvananthapuram: Senior Congress leader and Home Minister-designate Ramesh Chennithala has once again found himself sidelined in the newly formed government led by VD Satheesan, with the Congress leadership projecting Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) veteran PK Kunjalikutty as the second-most powerful figure in the administration after the Chief Minister.
Despite being entrusted with the powerful home portfolio, Chennithala has effectively been placed third in the protocol hierarchy of the new government, triggering discontent within sections of the Congress and fuelling allegations that the party has granted excessive political space and influence to the Muslim League. The signals became evident from the very beginning of the swearing-in ceremony. When Chief Minister Satheesan announced the list of ministers ahead of the oath-taking, the first name mentioned after his own was that of Kunjalikutty. Traditionally in Keralam politics, the Home Minister is regarded as second only to the Chief Minister in the cabinet hierarchy. By convention, that position should have gone to Chennithala. Instead, Kunhalikutty was projected ahead of him. The sequence of the oath-taking ceremony reinforced the message. Kunjalikutty took oath immediately after the Chief Minister, while Chennithala was placed third. Sources within the Congress point out that even the official vehicle allocation reflected the new power arrangement, with the number two ministerial car being allotted to IUML’s Kunjalikutty.
Symbolic signals trigger political debate
Political observers and party insiders noted that the symbolic positioning of leaders continued throughout the official engagements held after the swearing-in ceremony. At the tea reception hosted at Lok Bhavan, Kunjalikutty once again occupied the second-most prominent position after the Chief Minister.
The group photograph taken after the reception further intensified the discussion within Congress circles. According to party sources, the chair placed to the left of the Governor was rearranged to accommodate Kunjalikutty before Chennithala was given a seat. Congress leaders privately described the sequence as a deliberate political message regarding the internal power structure of the coalition government.
The arrangement of ministerial offices in the Secretariat has also added to the perception that Kunjalikutty is being accorded special status in the new administration. Both the Chief Minister’s office and Kunjalikutty’s office have been placed on the third floor of the North Block of the Secretariat complex. Chennithala, meanwhile, has been allotted an office on the second floor of the same block.
Party insiders also noted that Chennithala has been assigned the same office he had occupied earlier while handling the Home Department in the previous United Democratic Front government. The developments are now expected to extend into the Assembly as well. According to the emerging arrangement, Kunjalikutty is likely to sit on the treasury benches immediately after the Chief Minister, with Chennithala seated only after him.
Congress faces internal unease over power balance
The developments have triggered unease within sections of the Congress, where leaders and workers are openly questioning the decision to elevate IUML’s Kunjalikutty above a senior Congress figure such as Chennithala. Allegations are being raised within the party that the Congress has politically surrendered before the Muslim League in the new coalition arrangement.
Several Congress leaders are privately describing Kunjalikutty as an “undeclared Deputy Chief Minister,” arguing that the symbolic and administrative privileges being extended to him go far beyond normal coalition protocol.
The discontent has become sharper because of Chennithala’s long political career and stature within the Congress organisation. A senior national and state-level leader, Chennithala has held several key positions over the decades. He previously served as Keralam’s Home and Vigilance Minister in the second Oommen Chandy ministry from 2014 to 2016 and earlier became Keralam’s youngest minister in 1986 when he was sworn in as Rural Development Minister at the age of 28. He also served as Leader of the Opposition in the 14th Kerala Legislative Assembly from 2016 to 2021 and has represented the Haripad constituency multiple times as an MLA. At the national level, Chennithala was elected four times to the Lok Sabha from Kottayam and Mavelikkara constituencies. Within the Congress organisation, he served as president of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee for nine years between 2005 and 2014, apart from holding positions such as AICC Secretary, National President of the NSUI, National President of the Indian Youth Congress, and member of the Congress Working Committee.
The latest developments have also revived earlier political speculation surrounding P. K. Kunjalikutty being elevated as Deputy Chief Minister in the new UDF government. Though the Congress leadership have temporarily put the proposal on hold amid internal resistance and political sensitivities, the protocol status, administrative positioning and political prominence now being accorded to Kunjalikutty have reignited discussions within Congress over whether the arrangement is effectively creating an undeclared Deputy Chief Ministerial role in the government.
