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![After Kerala Drubbing, Congress Picks VD Satheesan As Leader Of Opposition After Kerala Drubbing, Congress Picks VD Satheesan As Leader Of Opposition](https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-05/ro76k8mg_vd-satheesan-_625x300_22_May_21.jpg)
VD Satheesan replaces Ramesh Chennithala as Leader of Opposition
Thiruvananthapuram:
Weeks after the Congress faced a crushing defeat in Kerala, the party has chosen VD Satheesan as the new leader of opposition. The 56-year-old leader replaces Ramesh Chennithala.
The move comes amid growing calls of revamp across the Congress leadership in the state.
VD Satheesan’s appointment to the post is being viewed as a beginning to the change.
Sources said elected representatives held one-on-one meetings with the Congress leadership in Delhi to discuss the overhaul.
VD Satheesan has won five times consecutively as a legislator. He rose through the Congress ranks from the Kerala Students Union, just like Ramesh Chennithala.
On Thursday, Pinarayi Vijayan was sworn in as Kerala Chief Minister for a second time after guiding the CPM-led Left Democratic Front government to a historic second successive term in the April-May election. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) bucked the trend in the southern state that has seen a see-saw politics in the last four decades and has alternated between the Left and the United Democratic Front.
Pinarayi Vijayan is heading an all-new 20-member cabinet – including 12 from the CPM and four from the CPI – with no carry-over – apart from himself.
The alliance won 99 of 140 seats in this election, with the Congress-led UDF claiming 41 and the BJP failing to open its account.