u/Big-Yard-2998

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Sunny Joseph did a stellar job as KPCC chief, which is remarakable when you look at his predecessors, who had their share of problems, especially when Oommen Chandy was the CM. The KPCC chief was more of a thorn in the side of Congress's unity and by extention, UDF's. In contrast, CPM secretaries, Pinarayi Vijayan, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and M.V Govindan have all worked towards the success and longevity of their parties, at least for their own sakes.

That said, who will be the next, now Sunny Joseph MLA has been given a ministry in the state cabinet? IMHO, he would have doen better to continue as the KPCC secretary than take on KSEB.

#Kodikunnil Suresh, Mavellikara MP

Only Dalit MP recieve phenomenal success in parliamentary elections from Keralam, most successful SC politician currently, with over three consecutive victories into the Lok Sabha.

But he is not as popular with the party or the general population as he is within his constituency, and that too is by a stroke of luck and gerrymandering. Changanassery, Mavellikara, and the remaining parts of his constituent seat, in Alappuzha, southern Kottayam, and western Pathanamthitta are heavily dominated by Nasrani/Syrian Christians (Orthodox, Marthoma, Syro Malabar and Syro Malankara), Nairs etc. They do not mind voting for a SC candidate, because INC and UDF at large is dominated by them, and it is an SC seat after all.

#Benny Behanan

Veteran Congress leader, has popular support from central Kerala, KCBC/Catholic churches have always backed him, has been an elected representative for most of his political career, comes from the INC stronghold, so many feathers in his cap. But ultimately, has the same problem as Kodikkunil Suresh, lack of support within the party, with the other veterans trying to one up him all the time, and has been the part of many a strife.

So, is it time for a younger candidate, someone wgo has worked their way up from the pipeline of KSU and Youth Congress, someone who has done quite well at MP, MLA or Panchayat and ward levels?

Other plausible options:

#MP (Vatakara) Shafi Parambil

Sending him to the Lok sabha was a mistake, and that win against Shailaja teacher, guy was an important figure in getting the younger generation to vote for Congress, especially outside south and central Keralam. He is the least problematic guy, and can have maintain stability in the party.

#MP Hibi Eden

All of Benny Behanan's strengths, none of his cons and also is much below the median age of KPCC leadership, which is the most important characteristic, and is also amongst the winningest Congress leaders currently.

#MP Dean Kuriakose

Yet another similar case, no controversies and has the mentioned pros.

Or maybe a newer face, like MLA Remya Haridas or other overlooked members should be given a chance.

Once they voted in Shafi Parambil over E Sreedharan.

The metroman was running for BJP, so that makes a little sense.

Then they voted in the infamous Rahul Mamkootathil.

And now they have voted in Ramesh Pisharody.

Congress keeps winning this seat, despite doing little to nothing there. LDF could easily take hold there. seeing how little UDF cares for them.

And yet, they are still a Congress stronghold.

Serious Contenders:

പരസ്പരം, കുംകുമപൂവ്, etc, Asianet serials were number one in their heydey of late 2010s

നിങ്ങൾക്കും ആകാം കോടീശ്വരൻ, most watched TV during the initial seasons, the later seasons after the hiatus were not so bad, though, they were never as popular.

Bigg Boss, I feel sorry this is up here, but, it is arguably dominated the TV viewers screentime by an incredible manner.

The Golden State Warriors front office wants Lebron, and now he has entered free agency, and adding another player eligible for veteran contract seems like a bummer for being a contender, even if it is Lebron.

And, they may not get Anthony Davis, whom the Wizards are wont to give up. And they shouldn't.

#Should they trade for Jimmy Butler?

Up to sixty million in payroll could be easily remedied, and they could sign many better, healthier, valuable additions to the roster.

#Better yet, get rid of Draymond.

The draft capital could be worth it.

What else?

And delivered upon?

I honestly believe that UDF would still have a 102 seat victory, even if they hadn't promised free travel in every KSRTC bus, or a 1000 rupee per month cashout to every woman who was a college student.

They should have subsidized industries like agriculture, privatised higher education, created affordable housing for EWS and other backward classes etc.

Instead they chose to let half the population get free rides on KSRTC, which was already operating at a loss, and now, despite lowering taxes on private buses, they are still not profitable and many routes are now devoid of these buses.

What a shame

Keralam has given MPs to various parties, fronts and factions at the national level, and yet none of them have ever given Keralam it's due, Mulleperiyar being the most egregious example. Most see this dispute as one between the states of Keralam and TN, so here is a rather comprehensive outlook into the various parties and factions, where Keralam has offered support.

#Here is what it looks like in the I.N.D.I.A front.

Only one in forty indians is a keralite.

And yet, one in seven of the INC's current Lok Sabha MPs are from Keralam. Congress camp has always had been overtly dominated by Keralam, than any other state, even when looked from the proprtional representation of states.

#14 out of 99 of the INC MPs in LS are from Keralam.

The same can be said for CPM and CPI. LDF, and by default CPM and CPI have almost all of its MPs in Lok Sabha from Keralam. With just 1 MP from the LDF, and with the loss of West Bengal and Tripura, Keralam is the last stronghold of Communist and Far left ideology in India, and only place that can send MPs to the lower and upper house of the parliament.

Without thirty six seats in the legislative assembly, they will not send anyone to the Rajya Sabha for five years, and will lose the seven MPs there, including MP John Brittas, and Jose K Mani. The seven seats they have currently will go to UDF's INC, Kerala Congress, and IUML.

#Virtually all MPs in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, eight in total are from Keralam.

This holds true for IUML also, they have only three MPs in Lok Sabha, two from Keralam and one from TN. And they were genrously given an two MP seats in Rajya Sabha, one from UDF, which was at it's lowest strength following the 2021 assembly election and from LDF, who were courting them for the entire second Vijayan ministry.

#All but one MP for IUML in both houses is from Keralam

This also holds true for parties like RSP and Kerala Congress who support INDIA, albeit at a smaller level.

And yet, the Mullaperiyar issue as not been given any importance by the official opposition in the parliament. Despite Keralam representing the INDIA front more than any state, it has not been a priority for them, and Congress, who has always enjoyed the majority of Lok Sabha seats of Keralam, has never even considered this a topic for discussion or debate, all the way from 2004, since when they had most of the seats in favour of UPA.

And as for NDA,

#Kerala has a grand total of one BJP MP in the Lok Sabha, a union minister, Suresh Gopi, compared to TN's zero.

And yet the BJP led NDA has too kept silent, thanks to the absentee minister, who can definitely rally support among the ruling party, if not the entire coalition, for advocacy on the Mullaperiyar dispute.

It is simply disheartening, to see Keralam, which has an edge in representation on both sides of the parliament, being given no prominence, compared to TN, where DMK, ADMK and TVK have all given negligible proportions of support.

DMK has had a falling out with Congress, ADMK has not had any luck with NDA, and TVK has now courted the Congress, CPM and IUML MLAs, all in the INDIA camp.

And yet, they have always been favoured in the unfair and one sided conflict.

TLDR, Keralam has given more representation to both powers in the parliament, for the longest time, and yet has been given disregard and contempt, from the centre, on what is likely to be one of the most largest natural calamities in this era, if not in history.

I just saw one of the defunct KURTC buses driving through Kottayam, it is just sad that those buses, which were the best thing that happened to urban commuters, just became obsolete so drastically after the pandemic.

It was one of the most beneficial aspects of the second Chandy ministry, it's a shame that it did not even last a decade (2015-2022), and pretty much like the KSRTC swift, it was a step in the right direction, one that was much needed.

This VDS ministry should have brought the KURTC instead of Priyadarshani.

Keralam tops all the metrics, but what exactly helps our hight trust state to top every socio-economic metric worth noting?

Here are some of my suggestions:

What we do well:

Public governance: We have the most accountable and representive governments.

Healthcare: Infant mortality, maternal mortality, life expectancy, doctors/nurses per capita, it all affirms the notion that our state is doing quite well here, although it still needs improvement.

Airports: If you've travelled some of the more crowded and larger airports, you would know how good we have it.

Law enforcement: Speaks for itself.

What needs improvement:

Education, (specifically, higher education): Ours is the only state to shun private universities, and as result, we have every other young adult all over the world, either studying or working?

Lack of entrepreneurial ecosystem: the above can also be a testament to this.

Opinions?

This take should not be a hot take at all.

Our state is easily the most urbanised state in the nation, especially with respect to our population.

We achieved ~70% urbanisation, and have all the benefits that come with it. So then, how come, we have only six municipal corporations, complete with mayors and municipal commissioners?

There are around 270 other such municipal corporations in India, and we have more populous urban agglomerations, just along the MC road, than most of them.

Some municipalities are just as populated and economically active as the Kannur and Kollam corporations. And besides, municipal corporations have always had more freedoms and leeways in decision making, than panchayats and municipalities.

Kindly look at the details here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_municipal\_corporations\_in\_India

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipal\_corporation\_(India)

Yes, having IAS officers or state service officers as municipal commissioners would call for more trouble, but I think they deserve it.

Here are some of the urban areas that could use a municipal corporation status.

Kottayam

Thiruvalla/Mavellikara/Chengannur

Manjeri/Malappuram

Alappuzha

Muvattupuzha

Pala

when they are so much biased?

Seriously, check this out

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_newspapers\_in\_India\_by\_circulation

Disclaimer: I am not an LDF/CPM supporter, just offering my two cents.

I will never understand, why Manorama, beats Matrhrubhumi and the likes, by a long shot. And I know this is nor anecdotal, it is pretty fair to assume that two of every three housholds get a Manorama paper every morning.

The figures may not be that accurate, but they are not that off anyway. It is incredible, even if you combine the circulation of the second and third most widespread malayalam newspaper, when combined do not even come close to their numbers.

Yes, Deshabhimani is the CPM mouthpiece, and yes most people buy them only because CITU or similar orgs force them too. But everyone knows they are a biased, and they themselves do not try to hide it. And the same can be said for Mathrubhumi and Deepika, Mathrubhumi is Pro congress, and Deepika is in almost every Catholic household, especially the Syrian Catholics.

And Manorama does not stop with their newspapers as well, their reach with Manorama News Channel is closer to Asianet than most people think, it is mich closer to Asianet than it is to 24 News, Reporter and the likes.

And of course, Onmanorama dominates the cyberspace with very little competition.

Speaking of which, it is undeniable that most media Malayalis consume is heavily dictated by Pro-UDF groups, and the vast majority are oblivious to it.

I have always believed that this is why, LDF needs a charismatic or image driven leader at all times (VS, Nayanar and Pinarayi Vijayan), to be effective in the political scene, and is always punching above their weight, unlike the UDF, who have the support of various monoliths like the Christian Churches, entire Muslim league, and Hindu Nairs and other UC.

LDF has to have grassroot level dominance or less they perish, and lose their votes, to both UDF and BJP.

Thoughts?

Muraleedharan as the health minister.

Free KSRTC bus travel for all women.

KSEB getting privatised.

K-FON getting privatised as well.

Most people may not rely on KSRTC and K-FON on a regular basis, but we all need KSEB.

UDF did not need to offer free travel to women on buses, but sadly they did, and now they are following through with it.

Now that I think about it, giving C P John, the only CMP MLA, from a party that has little relevance and is no way important to UDF hierarchy, the transport ministry must be a trap, since it might backfire spectacularly.

Sunny Joseph would have done better by just continuing as KPCC chief rather than take a cabinet position, and electricity at that, to just put his in-laws and relatives in jobs.

And to top it all off, a rather dismal opposition.

These measures will only push us further into debt.

None of this will help us with the 5 lakh crore debt.

Muraleedharan as the health minister.

Free KSRTC bus travel for all women.

KSEB getting privatised.

K-FON getting privatised as well.

Most people may not rely on KSRTC and K-FON on a

regular basis, but we all need KSEB.

UDF did not need to offer free travel to women on buses, but sadly they did, and now they are following through with it. Now that I think about it, giving C P John, the only CMP MLA, from a party that has little relevance and is no way important to UDF hierarchy, the transport ministry must be a trap, since it might backfire.

These measures will only push us further into debt.

And this will not help us with the 5 lakh crore debt.

To lose an election as the opposition, for the first time in forty years....

Or to lose an election by a historic margin, the highest in some sixty years, and to be the first two lose after two consecutive terms, the only such instance in forty years.

UDF became the first opposition to lose as the opposition since 1980, I believe. And many subsequently believed that they would never come in power again. And funnily, the incumbent LDF also believed the same.

And then came the most recent election where they lost by the incredibly high margin of 62 seats, a stark swing that no one so coming. Atleast they came back from that defeat, and in flying colours.

To be honest, I cannot see LDF winning in 2031 as well. Maybe they will take back Nemom, Kazhakootam and Chathanoor from BJP, after all, they were lost by thin margins. And just maybe, they will finish with over 40 or 50 seats. And if UDF can comeback from 41 to 102, with a swing of 61 seats, maybe the same can be said about LDF, right?

But as long as Pinarayi sits at the helm, the rest of the opposition will be toothless, and no one will get to take lead. And I don't see the Keralam electing a 84 year old MLA, on the cusp of 85, onto the CM office, especially after the most decisive defeat ever seen. VS was elected at 83, but that was VS.

He spent almost fifteen years, as CM and party secretary, carefully sideling and isolating all rivals in his own party. First, the most adored VS, then as CM, he removed Shailaja from the cabinet and so on. And now, K. K Shailaja, and other prominent peers like V. N Vasavan, are not even in the assembly.

And of course, VDS seems to be a capable administrator and his cabinet looks great, atleast on the outside. And KPCC and Kerala Congress did a great job in selecting the candidates.

Allow me to take a detour and rant about Shailaja teacher's tragedy. Once the most celebrated politician and minister in Keralam, her downfall is a testament to CPM's one-man one-rule one-face ideals. Shailaja in particular could have won easily from Mattanoor, were she had 60000 vote lead in 2021, but instead, she was pitted against Sunny Joseph, and consequently lost her seat. She was being chased out by P. V ministry previously as well, by making her compete against Shafi Parambil in Vatakara back in 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

So, to sum up, I suppose Keralam will see a decade of UDF rule, and this time, it will be an improvement from the previous ministries.

Thoughts?

To lose an election as the opposition, for the first time in forty years....

Or to lose an election by a historic margin, the highest in some sixty years, and to be the first two lose after two consecutive terms, the only such instance in forty years.

UDF became the first opposition to lose as the opposition since 1980, I believe. And many subsequently believed that they would never come in power again. And funnily, the incumbent LDF also believed the same.

And then came the most recent election where they lost by the incredibly high margin of 62 seats, a stark swing that no one so coming. Atleast they came back from that defeat, and in flying colours.

To be honest, I cannot see LDF winning in 2031 as well. Maybe they will take back Nemom, Kazhakootam and Chathanoor from BJP, after all, they were lost by thin margins. And just maybe, they will finish with over 40 or 50 seats. And if UDF can comeback from 41 to 102, with a swing of 61 seats, maybe the same can be said about LDF, right?

But as long as Pinarayi sits at the helm, the rest of the opposition will be toothless, and no one will get to take lead. And I don't see the Keralam electing a 84 year old MLA, on the cusp of 85, onto the CM office, especially after the most decisive defeat ever seen. VS was elected at 83, but that was VS.

He spent almost fifteen years, as CM and party secretary, carefully sideling and isolating all rivals in his own party. First, the most adored VS, then as CM, he removed Shailaja from the cabinet and so on. And now, K. K Shailaja, and other prominent peers like V. N Vasavan, are not even in the assembly.

And of course, VDS seems to be a capable administrator and his cabinet looks great, atleast on the outside. And KPCC and Kerala Congress did a great job in selecting the candidates.

Allow me to take a detour and rant about Shailaja teacher's tragedy. Once the most celebrated politician and minister in Keralam, her downfall is a testament to CPM's one-man one-rule one-face ideals. Shailaja in particular could have won easily from Mattanoor, were she had 60000 vote lead in 2021, but instead, she was pitted against Sunny Joseph, and consequently lost her seat. She was being chased out by P. V ministry previously as well, by making her compete against Shafi Parambil in Varkala back in 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

So, to sum up, I suppose Keralam will see a decade of UDF rule, and this time, it will be an improvement from the previous ministries.

Thoughts?

Traditionally, these have always been held by another minister, just not the CM.

Why is this a good idea, when many others where clamouring for offices?

Is the department for ports held, because Vizhinjam is now going to be game changer for the economy.

And as for Law, aren't there others who could have it, many other with a degree in law or even a masters.