Terming the Palakkad bypoll victory a result of teamwork, Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan said it shows the Congress now has a young brigade unlike in the past. In an interview with TNIE correspondent Shyam P V, he made it clear that Sandeep Varier, who made an impactful entry to the Congress from the BJP in the last lap of the campaign, will always be in the forefront of the party. Excerpts
Your thoughts on the Congress’ performance in the by-elections?
This victory is beyond expectations. Priyanka Gandhi won with a bigger margin than Rahul Gandhi, Rahul Mamkootathil winning Palakkad with nearly a five-fold margin compared to 2021, and Ramya Haridas cut down the LDF margin of 40,000 in 2021 by 28,000 votes in Chelakkara... This performance is a result of the hard work we put in as a team.
You appear very composed on the counting day, and keep things simple...
We feel very humbled when we perform well, right? At this moment, I respectfully remember those who voted for us, those leaders who came camping for so many days in the constituencies and worked hard... I’m much obliged to them. Had anything gone wrong, I would have been the only person responsible for it.
Glad that I could coordinate the campaign well, and even people senior to me stood by me. This is a great lesson for all of us. If we maintain our unity, we can definitely win anywhere, and this definitely gives us a thrust for the 2026 elections.
You always consider Rahul Mamkootathil a younger brother...
All young leaders in the Congress have high potential. I have always tried to promote the second row in the party even if they are inside or outside the assembly; they are the future. Shafi (Parambil), Vishnu (P C Vishnunath), Roji (M John), and Mathew (Kuzhalnadan) are really good. Rahul Mamkootathil too is part of that team and they will probably surpass us.
Currently, there is no other political party in Kerala with such a great second and third row leaders.
What status does the Congress intend to give Sandeep Varier?
All I will say now is that we will never keep Sandeep Varier in the background.
What about P Sarin?
Sarin was never such a person to be mentioned in that group. He was never cooperative with anything. His sole demand was to contest polls. It was impossible to give a seat to Sarin, a new entrant, when there were many seniors in the party. When I was first given a seat (in North Paravoor), I lost it. I worked hard for the next five years. Then I won continuously for 25 years... I told Sarin all that. While we were working for the by-election, he left the party.
He even went to BJP and sought the seat. He is not a consistent person. In fact, what Sarin says about me is right... I have not considered him at all.
How did the Congress manage such a performance?
We made a kind of machinery that was not there in the Congress or UDF. Election management, social media engineering were all perfect. We will make a model of this and take it forward. This change has given confidence to everyone.