UDF convenor dares V.D. Satheesan reveal name of ‘anonymous benefactor’ who sponsored his chartered flight

KOCHI;Kerala;03/12/2025: UDF Convener Adoor Prakash, MP.| Photo Credit: | Photo Credit: R.K. Nithin United Democratic Front (UDF) convenor Adoor Prakash on Monday (October 19, 2026) appeared to throw down the gauntlet to the Chief Minister, V.D. Satheesan, demanding that he “show the courage” to reveal the “anonymous benefactor” who sponsored the latter’s chartered flight from Thiruvananthapuram to Karipur to tour flash-flood-inundated localities in Malappuram district in September. Also read | UDF faces criticism over Ministers’ alleged foreign junkets, Keralam CM’s private plane travelMr. Prakash told a television channel that Mr. Satheeshan had a moral obligation to clear the politically controversial ambiguity surrounding the Chief Minister’s “obstinate refusal” to name the person or entity who sponsored the private chartered flight. Mr. Prakash’s latest salvo against Mr. Satheeshan has raised the spectre of a renewed season of feuding in the Congress. Mr. Prakash reiterated his grievance, submitted in writing to the All India Congress Committee (AICC) president, Mallikarjun Kharge, in New Delhi last month, that the government wilfully kept the party and the UDF in the dark about critical decisions with potential social and political ramifications. “There are no party committee or UDF leadership meetings any more”. Mr. Prakash said that he feared the UDF convenor’s post had become redundant under the current dispensation. He compared his “present predicament” to the one K. Sudhakaran, MP, had faced as Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president. “Some persons first isolated and subsequently smoked out Mr. Sudhakaran from the KPCC president’s post. I am not identifying the perpetrators. But I suspect that I might meet Mr. Sudhakaran’s fate, given the deep-rooted intrigues afoot against me currently,” Mr. Prakash said. Health Minister K. Muraleedharan’s response to Mr. Prakash appeared to betray the purportedly growing fault lines in the Congress in Keralam over Mr. Satheesan’s percieved style of functioning. He suggested to reporters that Mr. Prakash’s broadside against the Chief Minister went beyond what meets the eye. “If one person is continuously speaking against the Chief Minister, then there is somebody behind the curtain. I am not saying who,” he said. Last week, Mr. Satheesan and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala faced oblique intra-party criticism for “favouring a dialled-down and sedate preliminary enquiry” against the Leader of the Opposition and former Chief Minister, instead of outrightly registering an FIR against the veteran CPI(M) leader in the CMRL-Exalogic case. Mr Sudhakaran, for one, doubted, somewhat acerbeically, whether “men of political resoluteness” headed the government. Congress leaders. Mathew Kuzhalnadan, MLA, Chandy Oomen, MLA, and party spokesperson Jinto John argued that the government should not give Mr Vijayan any legal cover, as the previous LDF government had denied late Chief Minister Oommen Chandy the same in the Solar case. Mr Satheesan and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala argued that hastily registering an FIR based on charges raised by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the CMRL-Exalogic case would be legally untenable and also render the UDF government vulnerable to accusations of political revenge-seeking and abuse of authority. Moreover, Mr Satheesan sought to counter Mr Prakash last week by saying that, traditionally, UDF governments consulted the party and alliance only on broad policy matters, not on day-to-day decision-making. Published - October 19, 2026 05:29 pm IST