The journey takes nearly one and a half hours. There is 47.4 kilometres to reach Puthupally from Haripad. However Ramesh Chennithala will still have a long way to go to find out who Oommen Chandy, who has accomplished all the eighteen tactics in Kerala politics, is. Chandy is proving once again that he is needed to know the pulse of the Congress workers in Kerala even though he does not have fluency in national politics and Hindi. He is returning at the helm of the congress after four and a half years of silent politics.

Chennithala is a leader who had to face a lot of criticisms for not being strong as an opposition leader. Chennithala was looking for new possibilities whenever allegations of lack of active opposition surfaced. When the Congress and the UDF won a landslide victory in the Lok Sabha elections in Kerala, all the credit went to Rahul Gandhi. When the congress faced a poll debacle in the local body polls, Chennithala was blamed. It remains to be seen what the future of Chennithala would be. Only four more months is there to know that.

Chandy himself claimed responsibility for the election defeat in 2016. When Chandy refused to take the posts of UDF Chairman and opposition leader, it went to Chennithala. Later we saw Chandy distancing from Kerala politics. The absence of Chandy, who was in the state politics for decades, started reflecting here and there and his followers made use of it on social media.

Chennithala had never received the same amount of media attention as Chandy received from the cyber fighters of the Congress. Criticisms were showered on the protests staged by the opposition. Chennithala's later moves were to overcome all this.

Chennithala highlighted what the real role of the opposition should be by standing with the government during the floods of 2018 and days of citizenzhip agitation. Later he had to change those attitudes due to pressure. The change in stand was due to the strong pressure from the party and the front. Although some of the stances taken by the opposition leader during COVID period were described as reactionary, the sprinklr controversy raised by Chennithala hit the government hard. Although initially ridiculed, the government gradually had to kneel down on some issues. Chennithala raised corruption allegations against the government one by one.

Chennithala was criticized for calling K K Shailajay ‘media mania’ for her daily press meets in the beginning of the pandemic. The biggest setback for Chennithala was their debacle in the local body elections when the government was embroiled in allegations of gold smuggling. The opposition was criticized for not reaching to the people. Those who knew that this was not the only reason for the election defeat blamed the opposition.

The issue with Jose K Mani deepened when ‘A’ Group leader Benny Behanan was the UDF convener. Jose later joined the Left Front. After that, when ‘A’ Group leader M M Hasan became the UDF convener, Welfare Cooperation started. These were the two main reasons for the election defeat. Probably two factors that are not directly related to ‘I’ Group and apparently involved in ‘A’ Group.

Chennithala had almost confirmed the post of chief minister if the UDF comes to power in the assembly elections. This went wrong after the local body election results. Even the constituents of the party kept on saying that if Chennithala leads the assembly polls, they will not be able to win. The high command has no difference of opinion with Chennithala's performance as opposition leader. However, the high command assessed that it is not easy to seize power through Chennithala and that is why Chandy was tapped to lead the elections.

Though Chandy has been brought to the forefront, the high command is of the opinion that Chennithala's importance should not be stooped in any way. That is why high command representative A K Antony was given the charge. When Antony comes beyond groups, the high command also hints that Chandy is not infallible. When Chandy is brought to lead party in the polls, there is also a goal to bring back the Christian votes. However, it is doubtful whether the majority communities will move away when the minority votes are consolidated. In the wake of BJP gaining strength, some raise the concern that high command’s move may backfire.

The high command is likely to give green signal to a consensus move to share the term of the chief minister if elected to power. Chennithala may also be given a key post if elected. The high command will also give priority to the sentiment that Chennithala is leading the party and the front.