The Congress in Kerala has needed prodding from a 77-year-old to usher in a generation change in its leadership.

No, it’s not an initiative from Congress veteran Oommen Chandy, who had himself revolted against the old guard 50-odd years ago, that has brought in a younger face as the party’s new leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.

It’s none other than Marxist chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan who has, by inducting 20 new faces into his cabinet, forced the Congress to appoint 56-year-old V.D. Satheesan as its leader in the House, replacing the veteran Ramesh Chennithala.

Vijayan was among the first to congratulate Satheesan. “His performance in the Assembly has been exemplary. Hoping that he will be an excellent leader of the Opposition,” he said at a news conference.

The Congress high command had to overcome stiff resistance from the “oldies” who had temporarily buried their differences and ganged up against any change in the leadership.

Party insiders claim it was Rahul Gandhi who had insisted on an immediate leadership change after the drubbing in the Assembly elections.

Rahul, who represents Kerala’s Wayanad constituency in the Lok Sabha, did not come forward to own responsibility for his party’s Assembly poll defeat. However, when the Congress had won 17 of the state’s 20 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 general election, it was described as a victory for Rahul.

Although Satheesan’s elevation alone will not solve the state Congress’s organisational problems, it may herald the end of factionalism within the unit and free it from the clutches of the A.K. Antony-Chandy-Chennithala nexus that has been the bane of the Congress in Kerala.

The party is yet to decide whether to replace the current state president, Mullappally Ramachandran, who has made it clear he will not quit on his own and that it’s the collective leadership that should take “ownership” of the election defeat. But indications are that a change is not too far away.

Despite being a known member of the group headed by Chennithala, Satheesan had dared take a stand of his own on controversial issues, especially communalism and environment.

It will be interesting to see how Satheesan interacts with party seniors sitting with him in the Assembly, not to speak of those on the treasury benches fresh from their historic win. The new Assembly is scheduled to meet on Monday.

Chennithala is reported to be “very hurt” by the decision to replace him. Apparently, the representatives of the high command who had sought opinion from the MLAs individually had not bothered to “give even a hint” to him about the impending change.

Chennithala’s grouse is justifiable, in a way. He had been quite effective as leader of the Opposition, especially in the last two years of the previous government. The government was forced to backtrack on at least half-a-dozen controversial decisions following revelations by Chennithala.

Vijayan and his cohorts had in their desperation resorted to personal attacks on Chennithala, even questioning his “mental balance”. That Chennithala could not muster enough support for his initiatives from within his own party is something Satheesan needs to take note of.