The once unshakable dominance of the ‘A’ and ‘I’ groups in the Congress state unit is fast fading, making way for the steady rise of KC Venugopal’s faction ahead of the Assembly elections.
Published Oct 17, 2025 | 3:24 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 17, 2025 | 3:24 PM
Youth Congress Kerala members during a protest march.
Synopsis: The organisational restructuring of the Youth Congress in Kerala has stirred dissent within the party, with several leaders expressing disappointment over the new appointments. As crucial polls approach, the internal churn threatens to divert the Congress’s focus from the electoral battlefield to its own ranks.
With two crucial elections — the local body poll and the Assembly election — looming large, the Congress in Kerala finds itself grappling with an unexpected storm from within.
What was intended as a routine reorganisation of the Youth Congress leadership has snowballed into a political flashpoint, exposing simmering fault lines, triggering a ripple of discontent.
Several leaders have already broken their silence, signalling deeper discontent. The timing couldn’t be more delicate: The Congress faces a buoyant Left and an ambitious BJP eager to make fresh inroads.
As election temperatures rise, the internal churn threatens to divert the Congress’s focus from the electoral battlefield to its own house.
It began on 21 August, when Palakkad MLA Rahul Mamkootathil stepped down as Youth Congress state president amid allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards women.
The resignation triggered a churn in the organisation, laying the ground for an eventual reshuffle that would alter long-standing equations within the state unit of the Congress party.
After 52 days, on 12 October, the high command announced a new leadership — and with it, planted what many now see as a fresh seed of discontent in the state Congress.
Breaking away from decades-old group equations, the party named OJ Janeesh as president and Binu Chulliyil as the new working president — a post created for the first time in the Youth Congress’s history in Kerala.
OJ Janeesh.
The Congress leadership’s decision to appoint Janeesh as president and Binu as the newly created working president of the Kerala Youth Congress has triggered strong discontent within the organisation.
The move, seen as a calculated balancing act of communal and factional equations, has led to trolls on social media, sharp criticism from the party’s own ranks, and a wider debate on the credibility of the reorganisation process.
For the Congress, Janeesh’s elevation carries strong symbolism.
Thrissur, a traditional Congress bastion where the BJP has been making steady inroads, has regained the Youth Congress presidency after five decades.
The last leader from the district to hold the post was VM Sudheeran in 1975.
Janeesh, who rose through the ranks via the Kerala Students Union (KSU) and served as Youth Congress district president in Thrissur, also enjoys proximity to All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal, which is said to have been a key factor in his selection.
The leadership’s choice of Janeesh came despite Abin Varkey securing the second-highest votes in the Youth Congress organisational elections after Rahul Mamkootathil, who resigned amid controversy in August.
Under the traditional understanding, Abin would have been the natural choice to succeed Rahul. But power alignments and communal equations reportedly worked against him.
With the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), KSU and Mahila Congress already headed by leaders from minority communities, the high command opted for Janeesh, a Hindu Ezhava leader, to maintain “community balance.”
Interestingly, Binu Chulliyil, who did not contest the Youth Congress elections, was also in the race for the top post.
Binu Chulliyil.
To accommodate him, the leadership introduced a new position — working president — for the first time in the Youth Congress’s six-and-a-half-decade history.
Binu, who has not been active in state Youth Congress activities for the past two years, was serving as national secretary. His proximity to KC Venugopal is widely believed to have tilted the scales in his favour.
However, the selection has not gone down well with many in the organisation.
Critics point out the irony of appointing a candidate who secured just 19,000 votes as president (Janeesh), a non-contestant as working president (Binu), and excluding a candidate who secured over 1.7 lakh votes (Abin Varkey) from consideration.
Many Youth Congress activists have taken to social media to express their anger, calling it a “natural injustice” and mocking the leadership for making a “non-working man the working president.”
The leadership is yet to offer a clear explanation on why a new post had to be created for Binu and why the election mandate was bypassed.
On the surface, it looks like a standard exercise in community balance and accommodation of factions but party insiders hint at a deeper political move which tilted the organisational balance firmly in favour of the faction led by Venugopal, pushing the once-powerful ‘A’ group and ‘I’ group further to the margins.
For now, what was meant to be a show of unity and renewal in the Youth Congress has reignited factional fires—and exposed the party’s delicate power equations.
KC Venugopal during a programme of IYC-Kerala.
The once unshakable dominance of the ‘A’ and ‘I’ groups in the Congress state unit is fast fading, making way for the steady rise of KC Venugopal’s faction ahead of the Assembly elections.
The ‘A’ group — historically led by former chief ministers AK Anthony and the late Oommen Chandy — once had clear dominance in the Youth Congress state unit. But that era began to crumble with the passing of Oommen Chandy.
The latest organisational shake-up — the appointment of Janeesh as Youth Congress state president, bypassing Abin Varkey, who secured the second-highest votes — has dealt a decisive blow to both factions.
The ‘I’ group, led by Ramesh Chennithala, sees the move as a calculated sidelining, with Abin’s relegation to a national secretary post seen as a “demotion.”
The ‘A’ group, once the power centre, has also been reduced to holding minor posts.
More importantly, it signals KC Venugopal’s tightening grip over feeder organisations, with loyalists like Binu also being elevated. The move has triggered resentment and murmurs of collective resignations from sidelined factions.
With Youth Congress posts shifting from elections to nominations, the organisational equations are being rewritten.
The emergence of the youth brigade with leaders like Shafi Parambil and Rahul Mamkootathil soon perished following the scandal involving Rahul. Though the brigade put VD Satheesan as their mentor, it’s said, they soon severed ties after Satheesan turned his back on Rahul. The brigade is now said to be moving towards KC.
The sidelining of traditional groups, the change of mind of the once-influential youth brigade, and the consolidation of power under KC Venugopal indicate a strategic recalibration within Congress.
The simmering discontent within the Congress party’s youth wing in Kerala broke into the open this week as Abin Varkey, once widely tipped to head the Youth Congress, publicly expressed his displeasure over being overlooked for the post.
His comments were followed by MLA Chandy Oommen’s cryptic warning about his unceremonious removal from the party’s national outreach cell on his father’s death anniversary.
Chandy Oommen, along with Rahul Mamkootathil and Abin Varkey.
The two leaders’ remarks have peeled back the façade of unity in the Youth Congress, exposing factional heartburn over the All India Congress Committee’s surprise appointment of Jinesh as state president and Binu as working president.
Abin, who had served as state vice-president and secured over 1.7 lakh votes in the presidential election, made it clear that he had sought to be relieved from his national secretary post, saying he wanted to “continue the fight against the Pinarayi Vijayan government in Kerala” in a crucial election year.
“When asked whether the leadership’s caste and communal calculations cost him the top post, Abin said: ‘Being born a Christian is not my fault. Congress workers swear that the blood that runs through their veins is neither Christian, Muslim, nor Hindu, but human.’”
His remarks found an unexpected echo from Chandy Oommen, who too expressed hurt over his removal, hinting at serious internal rifts.
“I was removed on my father’s memorial day without any intimation. One day I will tell you the reason — after the elections,” Chandy said in Kottayam, throwing a veiled warning at the leadership.
Chandy also stood by Abin: “He is a hardworking leader who deserves more consideration. It’s natural for him to feel pain.”
With Abin openly airing his discontent and Chandy signalling that there’s more to the reshuffle than meets the eye, the Youth Congress rejig has now snowballed into a political storm — one that the leadership can no longer contain behind closed doors.
The reshuffle triggered unease within the party’s ‘I’ group, and the faction has reportedly raised a formal complaint with Rahul Gandhi, alleging that the announcement of new office bearers was “unfair.”
However, leaders have agreed to keep the dissent within party forums to avoid electoral repercussions.
The leaders are also questioning why Abhijith — the ‘A’ group’s proposed candidate for state president — was sidelined on the grounds of not contesting the organisational elections, while Binu, who was also not in the fray, was appointed working president.
A complaint on this front is also expected to reach the national leadership. Meanwhile, KPCC president Sunny Joseph made it clear that the party is unlikely to accommodate Varkey’s request to remain active in Kerala.
“KC Venugopal’s organisational responsibilities at the national level do not stop him from working in Kerala. The same applies to Abin Varkey,” he said.
Mathew Kuzhalnadan, MLA, extended strong support to new state president Jinesh, remarking that Jinesh “rose to the top through hard work, not social media reels.”
Satheesan, Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly, struck a neutral tone, expressing confidence in the newly appointed leadership.
“Abin was chosen as national secretary for his qualifications. But the current Youth Congress team is equally competent. This is a collective leadership, and I hope they will lead with unity and excellence,” he said.
Indian Youth Congress President Uday Bhanu Chib also clarified that the appointment of Abin as national secretary will not be reconsidered.
He added that no complaint from Varkey had been officially received and stressed that caste equations did not influence the selection. “Similar decisions have been taken in other states too,” he said.
While internal complaints simmer, both factions have agreed to resolve the matter within party structures, prioritising electoral unity over public sparring.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
