NEW DELHI: 2026 may see the Congress win another state. If the local body election results in Kerala are an indication to go by, the state may turn to Congress-led UDF after 10 years. So far so good. But what after that? Will Kerala go the Karnataka way for the Congress? Will the victory, if it happens, be overshadowed by factionalism and power tussle in the state unit? For quite some time now, the Congress in Kerala has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Shashi Tharoor, who was for many years the brightest Congress star in Kerala and also a symbol of inner party democracy, has of late been a source of constant embarrassment for the grand-old party. Tharoor, whose differences with the Congress leadership have made headlines, has given the party’s rivals, especially the BJP, enough political fodder to undermine the leadership of the Gandhis.