Congress scrambles to give political cover to Mattathur Grama Panchayat ward members who ‘voted for BJP’

The Congress appeared to necktie itself successful knots connected Sunday (December 28, 2025), seemingly straining to specify the quality betwixt a enactment whip usurpation and defection arsenic it scrambled to springiness governmental screen to 8 elected ward members who voted en masse to alteration the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to summation powerfulness successful the Mattathur grama panchayat successful Thrissur. 

Under occurrence from Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for the “embarrassing governmental volte-face,” Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan denied that immoderate Congress idiosyncratic had defected to the BJP. 

Speaking to reporters successful Adoor, Mr. Satheesan said the elected ward members had violated the enactment whip. “However, nary person deserted Congress for the BJP arsenic Mr. Vijayan has wrongly insinuated,” helium said. 

Mr. Satheesan said the conflict successful Mattathur was betwixt 2 rebels. “Congress members chose the rebel backed by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)], violating the enactment whip and consequently inviting disciplinary action,” helium said. Mr. Satheesan countered that the CPI(M) was the BJP’s covert state successful Kerala. 

In a Facebook post, Mr. Vijayan said the “Mattathur model” was portentious for secular and progressive Kerala. He said Congress’s organisational decay had fertilised the BJP’s maturation successful different States and the Sangh Parivar hoped to replicate the exemplary successful Kerala successful the 2026 Assembly elections and beyond. 

For one, Mr. Vijayan stated, that successful 2016, 43 of the 44 Congress MLAs, including the Chief Minister, deserted the enactment to articulation the BJP. 

He said the BJP replicated the Arunachal Pradesh exemplary again successful Goa successful 2019 and aboriginal successful Puducherry successful 2021. In 2019, the Congress Legislative Party successful Goa merged successful its entirety with the BJP. 

The BJP, which lacked a azygous MLA successful Puducherry, engaged successful horse-trading and ascended to powerfulness by piggybacking connected Congress deserters.

A Congress insider described the Mattathur occurrence arsenic an aberration caused by the territory leadership’s deficiency of vigilance. He said the CPI(M) had weaponised the “deviation” to constrictive Congress’s entreaty among minorities, main Muslims. “Congress volition person immoderate mentation to bash successful the adjacent UDF enactment meeting, particularly to the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML),” helium said.