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

The Congress appeared to tie itself in knots on Sunday (December 28, 2025), seemingly straining to define the difference between a party whip violation and defection as it scrambled to give political cover to eight elected ward members who voted en masse to enable the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to gain power in the Mattathur grama panchayat in Thrissur. 

Under fire from Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for the “embarrassing political volte-face,” Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan denied that any Congress worker had defected to the BJP. 

Speaking to reporters in Adoor, Mr. Satheesan said the elected ward members had violated the party whip. “However, none have deserted Congress for the BJP as Mr. Vijayan has wrongly insinuated,” he said. 

Mr. Satheesan said the battle in Mattathur was between two rebels. “Congress members chose the rebel backed by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)], violating the party whip and consequently inviting disciplinary action,” he said. Mr. Satheesan countered that the CPI(M) was the BJP’s covert ally in 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 growth in other States and the Sangh Parivar hoped to replicate the model in Kerala in the 2026 Assembly elections and beyond. 

For one, Mr. Vijayan stated, that in 2016, 43 of the 44 Congress MLAs, including the Chief Minister, deserted the party to join the BJP. 

He said the BJP replicated the Arunachal Pradesh model again in Goa in 2019 and later in Puducherry in 2021. In 2019, the Congress Legislative Party in Goa merged in its entirety with the BJP. 

The BJP, which lacked a single MLA in Puducherry, engaged in horse-trading and ascended to power by piggybacking on Congress deserters.

A Congress insider described the Mattathur episode as an aberration caused by the district leadership’s lack of vigilance. He said the CPI(M) had weaponised the “deviation” to narrow Congress’s appeal among minorities, chief Muslims. “Congress will have some explanation to do in the next UDF leadership meeting, especially to the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML),” he said.