Profanity caught on mic and a late entrance: Kerala’s top two Congress leaders play down awkward moment

Sudhakaran, flanked by party leaders from Alappuzha Shanimol Usman and Babu Prasad, sat before the gathered journalists for the press conference at around 10.30 am. After around 20 minutes, Sudhakaran seemed to get fidgety over Satheesan’s failure to turn up. When he asked where Satheesan was, Prasad said he was at a chess tournament venue, and that was when Sudhakaran used an abusive word.

Prasad and Shanimol looked visibly embarrassed as they quickly told Sudhakaran that the mics and cameras were on. Soon after, Satheesan turned up at the venue for the press conference.

After the issue became a controversy, both leaders tried to play it down.

Satheesan said, “We are like brothers. He has the freedom to say that… It should be seen as a conversation between two colleagues. Such things happen in talks between close friends.”

Sudhakaran also said the two were like brothers. “I am straightforward. I said we should show propriety towards the media. We are like brothers. Throughout this yatra, we were together. He has taken more initiative than me in the yatra. There is no difference of opinion between us,” he said.

Months ago, both leaders had been seen having a tiff in front of TV cameras. It was at a press conference held after the Congress won a bypoll in Puthuppally last year – following the demise of former chief minister Oommen Chandy – that the two argued over who would address the media first. When Satheesan was getting ready to start the address, Sudhakaran interfered, saying, “I am the KPCC (Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee) president. I will commence the press conference. You can speak later.”

In the aftermath of that, Satheesan had refused a shawl offered by a party worker and directed questions from journalists to Sudhakaran. “The president has said everything,” Satheesan had said at the time.

However, during the ongoing yatra, the Congress has sought to put up a united front, with both Satheesan and Sudhakaran leading it. This is a departure from the practice of either the KPCC president or the Opposition leader leading pre-election yatras in the past. Even the press conferences have been planned to show unity, with both attending together every day of the yatra.

Sudhakaran and Satheesan were brought into the state unit leadership and the parliamentary party in 2021 after the Congress-led UDF lost the Assembly elections for the second consecutive term. For them, the upcoming Lok Sabha elections are a litmus test of their poll management.