As Sanjay Nirupam now takes a swipe, how K C Venugopal came to have a seat at the Congress high table

Once part of a Congress "reformist" group, "KC" is now seen as eyes and ears of Rahul. Nirupam, who has now joined Shinde Sena, named him as one of the five power centres in Congress, along with Sonia, Rahul, Priyanka, Kharge

A confirmation of the importance of Venugopal in the Congress scheme of things, is him having emerged as the eyes and ears of Rahul. (Express photo by Anil Sharma)

In his first remarks after being expelled from the Congress for “indiscipline” and “anti-party statements”, former Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam hit out at the party, calling it “organisationally disturbed”.

“Many have already pointed this out. The Congress today has five power centres with different lobbies and people like me who are not part of any lobby suffer. These five power centres are Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and general secretary K C Venugopal,” Nirupam, who rebelled after he failed to get the ticket from the

Mumbai North Lok Sabha seat, said.

It was another confirmation of the importance of Venugopal in the Congress scheme of things, having emerged as the eyes and ears of Rahul. Other leaders at other times have accused Venugopal of controlling access to the de facto Congress supreme leader.

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For Venugopal (or “KC” as he is called in the party circles), who was once considered a part of the “reformist” young brigade of the Congress in Kerala, seeking to rid it of the control of veterans K Karunakaran and A K Antony, it is quite a U-turn.

It was in 1991 that Venugopal first came to limelight when Karunakaran, the then Kerala Chief Minister and his mentor, got him a Lok Sabha ticket from Kasaragod. Just 28 at the time and president of the party’s student wing, Venugopal lost narrowly.

By 1995, he had gone against Karunakaran publicly over the decision of then Congress president and prime minister P V Narasimha Rao to suspend Arjun Singh from the primary membership of the party. Karunakaran had aligned with Rao on the move.

By the time Karunakaran made way for A K Antony as Kerala CM in the March of 1995, Venugopal had moved further away, as part of a band of young “third group” leaders. The group, led by Ramesh Chennithala, G Karthikeyan and M I Shanavas, saw themselves as reformists or correctionists (Thiruthalvaadi in Malayalam), fighting the dominance of Karunakaran and Antony.

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In 1996, Venugopal became an MLA for the first time, re-winning in 2001 and 2006. In 2004, he became a minister in the Oommen Chandy government. By 2009, he was a Lok Sabha MP, and in another two years, a Union minister of state, the post seen as a placatory gesture towards his Nair community. In 2014, when the Congress was decimated across the country, Venugopal was among the handful of MPs who won, from Kerala, and was made the party’s whip.

Now, he is a Rajya Sabha MP from Rajasthan.

A student activist from the time he was in school, a volleyball player in college, a post-graduate in mathematics, and a leader who has risen from the violent politics of Kannur, Venugopal has shown dexterity not just in political calculations but also choosing sides well. He knows loyalty has a premium in the family-controlled party, and those close to him say he has demonstrated that amply by willing to take the rap for the leadership.

Much like senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel, who had a pulse on politics knowing everyone within the party and without, Venugopal is also said to have given enough proof of his political acumen. His confidants say he convinced Rahul to fight a second seat in Kerala in the 2019 elections (from where he won, even as he lost pocketborough Amethi), as he had read the political wind in Uttar Pradesh correctly.

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If his detractors say just the opposite — that Rahul’s decision to fight from the Muslim-dominated Wayanad actually contributed to his own and the Congress’s loss in the Hindi heartland — it hasn’t made a difference to Venugopal’s rise.

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Nor have allegations of involvement in the Kerala solar scam case. In 2018, the Crime Branch had booked him following allegations of sexual misconduct.

It was in 2017 that Rahul, as Congress president, picked Venugopal as AICC general secretary in-charge of organisation, to succeed Ashok Gehlot, who moved to Rajasthan as CM. Venugopal’s appointment surprised everyone, particularly the old guard, as he was hardly of the league of Gehlot, who had national organisational experience having been AICC general secretary many times, and equations with party leaders across the country.

In Venugopal, Rahul was seen as seeking a person with “fresh ideas”, who was not a part of the Akbar Road coterie and hence could not be easily influenced. He was also seen as sending a message to Patel, a parallel power centre.

Venugopal has since moved into key roles in the decision-making apparatus of the Congress. Unlike his predecessors, whose role was largely ceremonial given the towering presence of Patel, Venugopal sits in on all important meetings.

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And it’s not just Delhi where Venugopal is seen as being in the thick of action. Party leaders also see his hand in the churning in the Congress in his home state Kerala, including in the latest decision to give the Rajya Sabha ticket to state Mahila Congress president Jebi Mather, against the wishes of state Congress president K Sudhakaran and many others.