Reacting to Pinarayi Vijayan’s riposte on an alleged power struggle within the Congress over the prospective position of chief minister after the 2026 assembly polls, senior Congress leader and Opposition leader in the Kerala Assembly V D Satheesan said on Thursday that the Kerala chief minister should remember his acrimonious and protracted spat with veteran communist leader V S Achuthanandan over chief ministership when attempting to discern divisions in the Congress leadership in Kerala.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, Satheesan said he too could hit back if he cracks jokes about Congres. “The CM should not joke too much about Congress, if he continues with that jokes, I will be forced to remind him of certain incidents from 2006 and 2011,” Satheesan said.

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Chief Minister Vijayan on Wednesday came forward with a sarcastic remark about Ramesh Chennithala touted to be the future chief minister at an event organised by the state-run diaspora organisation NORKA where business tycoon Ravi Pillai was felicitated. During the welcome address, the organiser referred to Chennithala as the “next Chief Minister of Kerala” in the presence of Pinarayi Vijayan. Later, in his inaugural speech, the CM quipped that the comment would turn into a “bomb” within the Congress party.

Pinarayi Vijayan and veteran CPI-M leader VS Achuthanandan were at loggerheads for years. In 2006, the party denied a ticket to him for the Assembly polls.

However, a massive public backlash forced the party to reconsider the decision, and he eventually became chief minister. A similar episode played out in 2011 when Achuthanandan was again sidelined, but got a ticket to contest polls as he secured public backing. Despite leading the 2016 election campaign, Achuthanandan was overlooked for the CM’s post in favour of Pinarayi Vijayan.

Satheesan futher said that neither he nor any other leader in the Congress is in the race for the chief minister’s post. “The party high command will decides on the matter at the right time. We don’t need lectures from Pinarayi Vijayan on this,” Satheesan said.