All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary K.C. Venugopal has dismissed speculations about the United Democratic Front’s (UDF) chief ministerial face for the upcoming Assembly polls in Kerala, while claiming that “winnability” will be a major criterion while choosing party candidates.
He was delivering a speech after opening a two-day leadership summit organised by the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), titled ‘Lakshya 2026,’ here on Sunday (January 4, 2026).
Mr. Venugopal pointed out that the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led [CPI(M)] Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP) National Democratic Alliance (NDA) were taken aback by the advances made by the UDF in the recently concluded local body polls. To overcome their embarrassment, both these fronts and those who support them were coming up with all kinds of theories about an internal revolt within the Congress, he claimed. “Stories are being spread through the media about how the UDF has many chief ministerial aspirants, whether incumbent MPs will contest the Assembly polls and so on. Another question being asked is whether the UDF has a strong leader like Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. I dare to say that we have at least 10 leaders who are stronger than Mr. Vijayan,” Mr. Venugopal said. He also wondered if Mr. Vijayan was the LDF’s chief ministerial candidate before he assumed office for the first time.
