KOCHI/KOZHIKODE: Supporters of Congress leader and Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan took out rallies and demonstrations in some parts of the state on Thursday demanding that he be named the next chief minister following the UDF’s emphatic victory in the assembly elections.
With slogans such as “Let the leader who led the fight lead the state,” Congress and Youth Congress workers held marches, torchlight processions and public gatherings in districts including Ernakulam, Thrissur, Kozhikode and Kannur, projecting Satheesan as the natural choice for the top post.
In Satheesan’s hometown of Nettoor in Ernakulam, a rally that began from the INTUC Junction culminated at SN Junction, with workers carrying flex boards and banners backing his candidature. Protesters said Satheesan deserved the chief minister post for leading the opposition campaign against the Pinarayi Vijayan government over the last five years and steering the UDF back to power after a decade.
The rally was led by Riyas K Mohammed, son of former Maradu municipality standing committee chairman and KPCC executive committee member K B Mohammed Kutty. In Thrissur district, Youth Congress workers in Kadavallur under the Kunnamkulam constituency also held a march demanding Satheesan be made chief minister.
Organisers said he had relentlessly fought the Left government both inside and outside the assembly and emerged as the face of the UDF’s comeback campaign.
Youth Congress mandalam president M H Hakkim, block secretary Jamal Kottol, Siraj Kadavallur, Shaduli Althara, Sahad Kallumpuram and several Congress and INTUC leaders led the programme.
Similar demonstrations were organised across Kozhikode district, including in Mukkam, Koyilandy, Kuttiady, Balussery and Karassery, where workers installed flex boards carrying the slogan backing Satheesan. Torchlight processions were also held in several places.
Rameshan N, a Congress worker from Mukkam who led one of the rallies, said party workers and voters across the state viewed Satheesan as the most deserving candidate for the chief minister post. “He led the fight against the Pinarayi Vijayan government for the last five years and brought the party back to power. Workers will not accept anything less than the chief minister post for him,” he said.
