Alappuzha (Kerala) | The UDF’s victory in the Kerala Assembly polls is as much about timing as it is about triumph for senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala.
In his Youth Congress years, Chennithala was part of a generation that produced chief ministers and union ministers and also mentored younger leaders who would go on to occupy high office.
Many among his contemporaries in the Youth Congress, such as Mamata Banerjee, as well as those who once worked under him like Ashok Chavan, went on to reach defining milestones early, while his own rise remained steady and, at times, delayed.
Now, with the Congress-led UDF back in power and his emphatic win, Chennithala, who retained his bastion Haripad seat with a thumping margin, finds himself once again within reach of a larger role.
Within the party, his experience and organisational depth are being considered at a moment of transition.
For supporters, it feels like a long-awaited opening; for others, it remains a question of whether his moment has finally arrived or may slip away again.
It came as a surprise to many when a young Chennithala was elevated as a minister by Congress stalwart K Karunakaran in 1986, just four years after winning his maiden Assembly election from Haripad.
From becoming Kerala’s youngest minister to emerging as one of the most enduring faces of the Congress in state and national politics, Chennithala has remained a key figure in public life for over four decades.
The just-concluded Assembly election marked his 12th electoral contest, with Haripad once again proving to be a stronghold where he has built a formidable record.
He has won all five Assembly elections he contested from Haripad.
In parliamentary elections, Chennithala has won four times—thrice from Kottayam and once from Mavelikara—though he has also suffered two defeats.
A stalwart of the Congress (I) faction, Chennithala was considered a protégé of the late Rajiv Gandhi.
A native of Chennithala near Mavelikara in Alappuzha district, he entered organisational politics as KSU unit secretary in 1970 before rising to become state president of the student wing in 1980.
His rise soon extended beyond Kerala, with Chennithala becoming All India president of the National Students’ Union of India in 1982.
The same year, he entered electoral politics, contesting from Haripad Assembly constituency and defeating CPI(M)’s P G Thampi by 4,577 votes.
His victory accelerated his rise within the Congress, and he was appointed general secretary of the Indian Youth Congress in 1985.
A year later, he was inducted into the K Karunakaran ministry as Minister for Rural Development, becoming Kerala’s youngest minister at the time.
He retained Haripad in the 1987 Assembly election.
Given his proximity to the Gandhi family and Karunakaran, Chennithala was fielded from the Kottayam Lok Sabha constituency in 1989, from where he won.
He retained the seat in 1991 and 1996 before losing to K Suresh Kurup of the CPI(M) in 1998.
Following the defeat, he shifted base to Mavelikara and won the 1999 Lok Sabha election by defeating Ninan Koshy.
A major setback came in 2004 when he lost the Mavelikara seat to CPI(M)’s C S Sujatha.
After that defeat, Chennithala focused fully on Kerala politics and served as president of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) from 2004 to 2014.
In 2011, he returned to the Assembly through Haripad, defeating CPI’s G Krishnaprasad by over 3,000 votes.
Amid strong demand within the Congress for his induction into the ministry, Chennithala became a minister for the second time in 2014 in the Oommen Chandy government, handling the Home portfolio.
After the UDF’s defeat in the 2016 Assembly polls, he became Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly.
Though he emerged as one of the most vocal critics of the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government, the UDF failed to return to power in 2021. Subsequently, V D Satheesan replaced him as Leader of the Opposition.
Chennithala is known for his close ties with influential Hindu community organisations such as the Nair Service Society (NSS) and the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP).
Though his relations with NSS leadership had at one stage become strained, they improved after he visited the organisation’s headquarters in 2025, where he received a warm reception.
The SNDP leadership, often critical of Satheesan and other Congress leaders, has on several occasions publicly praised Chennithala.
He also maintains cordial relations with Christian and Muslim community leaders.
For the CM post, Chennithala will face competition from Satheesan and K C Venugopal, both of whom have significant influence in the AICC.
However, what favours Chennithala is his clean track record, organisational skills, and wide acceptability among community leaders.
Alappuzha (Kerala) | Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala won by over 23,000 votes against his nearest rival from CPI in the Haripad Assembly seat after 15 rounds of votes polled from there were counted, as per EC figures.
The data on the Election Commission (EC) website, after all 15 rounds of EVM votes were counted, showed that Chennithala secured 68,184 votes, which was 47.08 per cent of the votes polled in the constituency.
The senior Congress leader won with a margin of 23,377 votes against his nearest rival -- CPI's T T Jismon.
Chennithala is reportedly in the fray for the post of Kerala CM.
In 2021, Chennithala got a total of 72,768 votes (48.31 per cent of votes polled) and won with a margin of 13,666 votes, according to EC data.
In 2016, he got a total of 75,666 (51.05 per cent) and won with a margin of 18,605 votes, as per EC figures.
