Kerala CM Announcement | BJP Targets Congress Over VD Satheesan CM Pick In Kerala

Added: 2026-05-17

[00:00:00]that the Muslim League, the IUML, the principal ally of the Congress, member of the UDF in Kerala, they come with 22 MLAs and they are critical for this alliance to stay in government. And the BJP is saying the fact that eventually BD Satishan was chosen is proof of how the Muslim League wields uh a lot of influence within this alliance and they have again reiterated the charge of how they are the Mauist Muslim League.

[00:00:30]Remember this was a term first used by the prime minister saying that the Congress is now reduced to a MMC Mauist Muslim Congress and again that charge coming back to haunt them in Kerala. So the BJP which had first said look look at the picture that the BJP has just posted from its Keralum handle Padma and Veda uh this kind of reinforces what they had been saying for a while now and now they have every reason to do it on Padma's 9 8 p.m. know yesterday she had said very specifically that uh you know posters had been put up in Ward in Ward was it was it established that these had been put up by VD Satishan supporters or the >> Here's the thing you know I actually I actually wanted to ask the IUML earlier how did those posters mysteriously come up nobody actually took ownership but imagine you've got posters in Vionard specifically warning Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi no less saying Vard will become another Amiti.

[00:01:25]>> Yes, that you will not be able to win in Vard. You will never be able to win Kerala if you choose Casey Venugopal. He may be and those were the words on the posters not mine saying that he may be your bad carrier in Delhi but you cannot force Casey Venugopal on us. This is a warning. You will lose Vard if Casey Vinugopal is chosen as chief minister.

[00:01:46]And now that is going to be quoted again and again and that pretty much is the import of that poster which has been put out by BJP Keralam as well. So that threat did it eventually have any bearing on the choice of VD Satisan. We may never know but the fact is that you have IUML as a very critical ally. You need those numbers to stay in government. Those posters did go up in Bayard and it's a known fact that the support of the IUML the support of the Muslims is critical for the Congress to win in >> and while you may not know what really went down what will be an indicator perhaps is also that meeting that will be held today Padmaja later in the day where you will have the IUML where you'll have the Congress MLAs talking obviously we'll try to get you the inside track but at the moment also what Padmaja pointed out Casey Venu Gopal and a second meeting also with Rahul Gandhi which also goes to prove that there's more to this than what meets the eye.

[00:02:40]You also have the BJP coming out and slamming the Congress over its decision saying that this seems to be more of a decision of the IUML than the Congress.

[00:02:48]>> And remember, just to put this in a larger context. This is not just about what is happening in Kerala. Take a look at the results in West Bengal. You've got only two MLAs of the Congress after they had a drought in 2021. They finally managed to get two MLAs and both of them one is from Rani Nagar the other one is from a seat Faraka which has about 80% Muslims. So Rani nagar you've got 60% Muslim population. Faraka you've got 80% Muslim population. The Congress finally makes a comeback wins two of those seats. In Assam you have 19 Congress MLAs. One of them is an SC uh candidate.

[00:03:23]One of them SC reserved seat and 18 of them are Muslims. And who who first made that charge? Badrudi Najal Shazad's on the phone line.

[00:03:31]>> Yeah. Shazad Punala national spokesperson of the BJP now joins us. Is it fair Shazak Kunawala to accuse the Congress of being a Muslim League like party of claiming that it's only the IUML pressure? After all, like our reporters have been saying, Vidi Satisan did enjoy the local support as well.

[00:03:50]>> Oh no. First of all, we congratulate Muslim League for appoint because this has got the stamp of entire Muslim League. I am privy to Congress details and Congress functioning. I was told that the reason why Casey Vinu Gopal and Ramsh Chanitala's number got cut is because they are preferred by church but Congress wanted to go out all out to appease PFI Muslim League for Vard calculation and therefore madame Priyanka Vadra said that if you don't make Satishan that means the Jamaat and Muslim League candidate I will lose my election from VA. So therefore under the pressure of Priyanka and Jamaat the Satishan nomination has been taken ahead and this is my information and also you see in Assam also you were rightly saying Pba that most of the people are people who have won on the constitution where very few Hindus have won only one Hindu C community person as one because they have to forcibly give the seat to the reserve seat in Bengal it is two out of two in Kerala also out of maximum Muslim MLAs from the entire assembly maximum belong to Congress has now become a jinawadi congress. It is not Gandhi wadi congress. It is a complete money league. It has become and I would say it should be called Indian national caliphate incala.

[00:05:08]One could also say that this could just be coalition politics like in Bihar where you have an alliance. This could just be coalition politics when it comes to the state of Keralimm.

[00:05:20]We don't try and reconnect that line with Shazad.

[00:05:28]It's a it's a very poor phone line. I'm going to uh I don't want to subject my viewers to that bad phone line. So, we'll try and repatch Shazad. But in the meanwhile, Vika, the point you were making is that this could be coalition politics as well and the normal pulls and pressures. But not surprising at all that the BJP has picked up this one bit because like Padma said, it's been something that they've been saying over and over again whether in Bengal, whether in Asam and now in Kerala.

[00:05:53]>> Absolutely. And and you know this has been an ongoing conversation. Let's look at it from the Congress's point of view.

[00:05:58]You know Pavan Kha the day after Badrudi Najal first made that charge and why Badrudi Najal has good reason to be angry with the Congress party. Remember he was the unchallenged keeper of that vote bank as it were in Assam. Then cut to 2024 he was defeated by Raki Bul Hassan of the Congress party by a margin of 10 lakh votes. That was the highest margin across the country. Cut to 2026 somebody who I think had about 20 MLAs was reduced to only three MLAs. You had the Congress taking away all those areas where the AIUDF earlier had a presence.

[00:06:34]You've got Lower Asam, Barack Valley, all of that was now a Congress area. All the delimitation seats were a Congress area. But the counterargument is this is a democracy at the end of the day.

[00:06:45]Muslims will have to vote for somebody.

[00:06:47]And if they've chosen the Congress, if they've chosen a national party who can be an effective counter to the BJP as it continues to win state after state, >> they decide to vote for them. I think Shazad is back with us. Shazat Kunamala.

[00:06:59]Yes. Go on, make your point. How can we be so convinced that it is only the Muslim vote and not local factors, local support that weighed in in favor of Vidi Satisha? Go on.

[00:07:09]>> You see, Priyanka Vaja has won YNR. Can you hear me now?

[00:07:13]>> Yes. Is it possible to hear me?

[00:07:15]>> Yes.

[00:07:15]>> Priyanka Vaja has won Priyanka Vaja has won seat with the help of PFI, Muslim League and Jamaat. And after she has won that seat, you will see that constantly even Mr. Satishan was the first one to say that yes we are in alliance with Jamat. When Jamat made call for Islamic Republic Satishan he had defended it also. He said it's okay if they have said something like this. Then Muslim League and Jamat both have weighed upon Priyanka that you will lose your seat if you do not make sisa. And therefore out of all this calculation Priyanka G has weighed in on Mr. Rahul Gandhi and said that no we cannot allow church to have second candidate. Church has also given them support for Tamil Nadu Mr. Joseph.

[00:07:58]So they have already appeased church in Joseph's case. So here they have appeased the Jamaat. So it is a balancing act between both these factions and therefore this has been done. And you can see the kind of people who are getting elected on Congress. It is exclusively or 99% Muslims are getting elected in Assam in Bengal 100% Muslims have got elected on Congress ticket. So Congress was also interested in doing the Hindu hatred politics.

[00:08:22]You've seen statement given by Congress on Sanatan also in the assembly of Tamil Nadu. So this all comes to the same conclusion that Congress has now become Indian National Caliphate.

[00:08:33]>> All right. I also want to quote to you data that was put out by Pava just a week ago where he said that we've got 664 MLAs nationwide and 78% of them are actually Hindu. Only 12% are eventually Muslims. You're looking at only one state or two states but of the total 600 plus MLAs they have across the country 78% belong to the Hindu community.

[00:08:53]Shazad punala.

[00:08:56]>> No no no the point that is not the right way of calculating. The right way of calculating is that when in a particular state which has a certain amount of Muslim heft or Muslim vote there you completely exclude the Hindu community.

[00:09:11]Therefore example of that is Assam.

[00:09:13]Wherever the Muslim community reaches a critical mass Congress then excludes the Hindus. That's why you would remember that lot of the Hindu leaders of Assad Congress they have felt that we can no longer continue in Congress party and they have come towards the side of him Sharma. So in Bengal in Asam wherever there's a critical mass of Muslim vote now in Kerala they will now chip towards exclusive Muslim representation that is the plan of the Congress party.

[00:09:39]>> All right I think V also has a question for you Shazad. Go ahead V. Shazad, I was just listening to you saying that the Muslims have gravitated towards the Congress etc. How can you justify that with the fact that 102 MLAs was won by the UDF overall? We only have 22 of the IUML. Isn't it a little unfair to say that it's only one community support that's led to the victory and armwisted the Congress to choose one chief minister, a party with 63 MLAs? Uh would it just be one to pedal the narrative that you all have been peding?

[00:10:15]>> No. No. V is not mind active. People say BCP is a communal party. Mr. Pin Vijan has said this. I can quote the exact date and time. Mr. Pinay Vijan has said that Congress quote unquote takes the support of to win election and therefore if Mr. Pinay Vijan has also come to the same conclusion then why fault poor Shazad Tunawala and BJP for it? This is not our narrative. This is you know and don't take it in other spirit. It's just in a lighter comment. Now the common thing that is said in Keralum is that more than the Muslim person Congress does six time or seven time namaz because they have to up and they have to appease to the PFI. So they are doing seven time namaz and Muslim is doing five time namaz. This is what is said about Congress party by left leaders local left leaders.

[00:11:01]>> Okay. You know this is going to be very very interesting the way this entire narrative plays out in the leadup to the Labai elections which remember are just 3 years away and the next set of elections that we are going to see are going to be as critical as important and from the looks of it as polarized when you're talking about Uttar Pradesh similar considerations when you're talking about Uttarakhand the first state to have brought in the UCCC when you're talking about Gujarat as well this particular charge where you have a national party being accused of the only other national party of pretty much being reduced to the votes of one community. Is that going to lead to a sharp polarization? Shat Navala, thanks very much for joining us. Ver do you see this carrying on into the next few elections as well? The states that we mentioned and of course Karnataka happens next >> is very clear. There is a sense that the minorities believe that the Congress and this is a sense that I got in Kerala as well. The reason why there was such a strong north central consolidation in favor of the congress is that there was a sense that the congress is the party which can actually reflect the issues in parliament and etc. The left had lost its space to take that issue beyond Kerala. In fact, if you notice Pendra Vijan did make efforts to reach out to the minority vote towards the end of the campaign. In fact, even during our conclave, he made sent out a message of uh you know solidarity with the minorities. So leave that aside. An assembly election and a parliamentary election cannot be seen as one. Uh I think the dynamics of a parliamentary election is going to be very very different as far as Kerala is concerned as it has been in the past and it's going to be a very interesting experiment to watch on how the congress takes very very different sections together. Very brief point Paja as Ashman was pointing out BD Satishan is one who is not favored by the NY service society as well. All right. The NAR vote is something that the BJP has been wanting to gain traction with. How it's going to play out in terms of cast arithmetic, in terms of grassroot arithmetics as we head into the 2029 parliamentary elections will be possibly very different from what we've seen in an assembly election.

[00:13:08]>> All right, more reactions coming in. I believe we have BJP spokesperson Bandari speaking.

[00:13:15]Clearly evident that the new Congress chief minister pick from Kerala was not the choice of the Congress MLAs but was the choice of the Indian Union Muslim League. Yet again the Gandhi Wadra family has proven that they listen to the dictat of the Indian Union Muslim League. The remote control of the Congress party and the Gandhi Wadra family is under the Indian Union Muslim League. This is why the Congress party today is nothing short of the modern-day Muslim League. The Congress is the Muslim League Maadi Congress. It is clearly evident that the new Congress chief minister pick from Keral more of such attacks on the Congress and specifically on the Kerala Congress in the next few days. This narrative is something that is only going to gain more traction in the days to come. We have to take a very very quick break at this point, but much much more on the biggest story of the day. Don't go anywhere.