Tripunithura, Kerala: Congress MLA K. Babu reminisces about his early political journey, recalling his first foray into elections during the initial polls held after Angamaly became a municipality.

“I contested my first election alongside AK Antony as a candidate. My main opponent was MV Chacko of Congress, who was very well-known in our area and my father’s close friend. I won that election by just 60 votes and went on to become the first chairman of Angamaly Municipality in 1979-80. At the time, I was the youngest municipal chairman,” K. Babu said.

Despite later being asked by the party to contest municipal elections again, he initially declined. Eventually, under AK Antony’s leadership, he and his colleagues joined Congress. In 1990, when the first district council was formed, Babu and other leaders were called to Thiruvananthapuram.

“At that time, K. Karunakaran was the opposition leader, and AK Antony was the KPCC President. I had requested not to contest as a candidate and to be exempted, and even though AK Antony tried to convince me otherwise, I insisted on staying away from local body elections,” he recalled.

When offered a legislative assembly seat in 1991, Babu had hoped for the Palluruthy constituency but was instead assigned the Tripunithura.

“I had never thought much about Tripunithura. When I mentioned it to a close associate there, he asked, “Why are you coming here?” AK Antony told me, “Go and see.” That’s how I entered the Tripunithura constituency as a UDF candidate. In that election, I defeated senior CPM leader MM Lawrence by 4,946 votes and became an MLA for the first time. Later, in Tripunithura, I defeated CPM’s Gopi Kottamurikkal by 14,773 votes in 1996, K. Chandran Pillai by 24,296 votes in 2001, KN Ravindranath by 7,342 votes in 2006, and CM Dinesh Mani by 15,778 votes in 2011,” he stated.

He faced a setback in 2016, losing to CPM’s M Swaraj, but regained the seat in 2021, defeating the same opponent.

“Tripunithura has been a stronghold of the CPM, yet these victories reflect the support of the people in the constituency,” Babu said.

During the UDF government led by Oommen Chandy, K. Babu served as the Excise, Port, and Fisheries Minister. Having entered public life through student politics, he is now the Deputy Leader of the Congress Legislative Party in Kerala and a member of the All India Congress Committee.