Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala, who has his eyes set on the chief minister's post in Kerala, set tongues wagging on the shifting power dynamics in the state when he got a rousing reception at an event organised by the politically influential Nair Service Society (NSS) on Thursday.

Ahead of the Assembly polls in April 2026, the NSS kicked off the "identity politics" in favour of Chennithala by inviting him to be the keynote speaker at the Mannam Memorial Jayanti celebrations at its headquarters in Perunna.

Chennithala, who returned to the Mannam Jayanthi celebration after an 11-year break on Thursday, also inaugurated the event after attorney-general R. Venkataramani expressed his inability to do the honours.

NSS general secretary G. Sukumaran Nair maintained that Chennithala was not invited to the event in the capacity of a Congress leader.

Nair and Chennithala had not been on good terms for 11 years. When the NSS extended an olive branch to the former leader of the Opposition, alarm bells started ringing for several Congress leaders, including Chennithala's successor V.D. Satheesan.

Close on the heels of the NSS leadership rallying behind Chennithala, Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDPY) general secretary Vellapally Natesan had also endorsed him. The SNDPY represents the Ezhavas, another politically influential community.

Prof J. Prabhash, a political commentator, told The Telegraph that community leaders had always played their community card by setting an agenda ahead of crucial elections.

"Chennithala had been unlucky during the 2021 Assembly elections as the United Democratic Front (UDF) lost its mandate. He had been an excellent LoP where he exposed almost a dozen scams, but to no avail. With the emergence of Satheesan as the LoP, Chennithala was pushed to the background, but he has now bounced back due to the backing of two major community leaders," Prabhash said.

"With anti-incumbency against the CPM-led ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF), I feel that the UDF has a good chance of emerging victorious in the 2026 Assembly elections. If the internal squabbles within the Congress do not escalate, the CPM will not be able to have a hattrick," he added.

Satheesan, who does not share a good rapport with Nair and Natesan, has been reaching out to Christian community leaders.

He has received an invitation to speak at the Maramom convention, Asia's largest Christian congregation, to be held at Pathanamthitta on February 15.