Inside account of how V D Satheesan became Kerala CM

From tacitly allowing Venugopal a week ago to enter the CM race to picking Satheesan for the post, the Congress high command’s 360-degree turn is unprecedented in its recent political history.

And the unusual turn of events does not end there. Breaking the long-held tradition of giving weightage to the views of the MLAs, which complicated matters, giving in to pressure from allies in picking its CLP leader, and heeding perceived public sentiment, there were many twists that the leadership had not encountered in the past.

Twists and turns

The first plot twist in the 10-day saga came on May 7, three days after Kerala gave the Congress-led UDF an unprecedented mandate of 102 seats in the 140-member House. The Congress leadership that had, in the run-up to the elections, decided that sitting MPs should not be fielded as candidates remained silent when a large number of the newly elected MLAs took the name of Venugopal, a Lok Sabha MP from the state, as their CM choice. By one account, 46 of the 63 Congress MLAs, including state unit president Sunny Joseph, preferred Venugopal.

Satheesan had the support of 9 MLAs, according to insiders, and Chennithala even fewer. The support for Venugopal was not unexpected. After all, he was instrumental in the appointment of Joseph and the three working presidents of the state unit — Shafi Parambil, P C Vishnunadh, and A P Anil Kumar — in May 2025. He also played a major role in the selection of candidates. A large number of the MLAs who won owe him a lot. Neither the high command nor its representatives — Maken and Wasnik — told the MLAs to confine their choice to an elected MLA. After all, it was the AICC that decided that MPs should not be fielded as candidates.

As the headcount in the CLP became public, another narrative started playing out, something that was unprecedented in the Congress’s recent history: a public mobilisation and a social media blitz in favour of Satheesan. The high command viewed with scepticism the reports of street protests, the poster war, flex boards in support of and against Venugopal and Satheesan, and the social media sabre-rattling. The suspicion was that the outcry was orchestrated and not organic. The Venugopal camp, too, had apprised the leadership that the protests were engineered.

Venugopal, on the other hand, was confident, given the fact that the majority of the MLAs were with him. He fancied his chances despite having said in the past that he was not in the race for CM. The high command, too, did not rule him out. But the delay in arriving at a decision — the Congress leadership was preoccupied with developments in Tamil Nadu — only strengthened Satheesan’s hand as the street protests, poster war, and social media battle intensified. Sources said Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and a large section of the Congress leadership — who have seen many a tussle in the past — viewed the outcry as posturing.

Gandhi’s first message to the three contenders when he met them on May 9 was to put an end to the factional show of strength on the streets. But by then, the allies, especially the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) with 22 MLAs, had taken a clear stand in support of Satheesan. The view, first conveyed to the AICC observers, was relayed again to the AICC leadership, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the Lok Sabha MP from Muslim-majority Wayanad. Sources said Rahul and Priyanka received hundreds of emails urging them to pick Satheesan as CM.

A sceptical Rahul Gandhi summoned former state Congress chiefs, state unit working presidents, and some senior leaders to Delhi for wider consultations on May 11. The leadership also reached out to A K Antony, the seniormost Congress leader in Kerala. At least two of the former state chiefs — K Muraleedharan and V M Sudheeran — urged the leadership to factor in public sentiment while taking a decision. Antony, too, is learnt to have apprised the Gandhis about the public mood without favouring any of the three aspirants. The race had narrowed down between Satheesan, who had the support of the allies and popular mood, and Venugopal, who had the backing of MLAs and the organisation.

The IUML factor

What turned the tide was the public sentiment and the stand of the IUML, which, like a large section of the Congress rank and file, believed that the United Democratic Front’s (UDF) mandate was shaped largely by 61-year-old former state LoP Satheesan’s aggressive leadership and sustained political mobilisation in the last five years. The IUML preferred Satheesan because of the strong stance he took against majoritarianism. Satheesan has also been steadfast in his position that community outfits such as the Nair Service Society (NSS) and the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam should not meddle in politics and the affairs of political parties.

On Wednesday, the IUML hardened its position. As the Congress announced that the CLP would meet at 1 pm on Thursday in Thiruvananthapuram, followed by a meeting of the UDF, the IUML signalled that it may not attend the alliance meeting. There was also a buzz that the IUML was thinking about providing the government outside support if it did not get the CM of its choice.

That Venugopal’s elevation would have forced two by-elections — one for the Alappuzha Lok Sabha constituency that he would have had to vacate and one for an Assembly constituency that he would have had to choose to enter the Kerala Assembly within six months — also became a factor.

What Venugopal told Gandhis

The Congress high command finally changed its mind and decided to pick Satheesan, but the onerous task of convincing Venugopal and Chennithala remained.

And that played out on Thursday. There was drama and suspense till the last minute before the announcement of the decision. While the CLP was scheduled in Thiruvananthapuram, there were last-minute talks in Delhi involving all top leaders, including Rahul and Priyanka. Venugopal was summoned to Rahul’s 5, Sunehri Bagh Road residence in the morning. Priyanka was present at the meeting. The three held talks for over two hours, even as Dasmunsi, Wasnik and Maken waited for the high command’s nod to proceed to the airport to board a special flight to Kerala. It became clear that the CLP meeting will have to be pushed back.

Venugopal, according to senior leaders, argued that the party cannot break the tradition of giving weightage to the views of the MLAs. Even when the party picked Kamal Nath, an MP, as Madhya Pradesh CM in 2018, he had the backing of the majority of the MLAs. Back then, Nath and Digvijaya Singh had joined hands to deny Jyotiraditya Scindia the CM’s chair.

But the Gandhi siblings could not have ignored the IUML’s pressure and the sentiment on the ground. At stake was also Rahul Gandhi and the Gandhi family’s image. The Gandhis enjoy much goodwill in Kerala and they did not want to be seen as taking sides in a contest in which a leader close to Rahul Gandhi had become a part. Doing so could have affected the Gandhi family’s image as an impartial arbiter.

With the Gandhis having convinced Venugopal to back out of the race, senior AICC leaders reached out to Chennithala in Thiruvananthapuram. Sources said Rahul had a lengthy discussion with him. While Venugopal did not publicly show his unhappiness and extended all support to Satheesan, Chennithala, party leaders said, had decided to stay away from the CLP meeting.

While the Rahul-Venugopal-Priyanka meeting was underway, Jairam Ramesh reached Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s 10, Rajaji Marg residence, followed by Maken, Wasnik, and Dasmunsi. This even as Satheesan was on his way to Thiruvananthapuram to attend the CLP meeting and Chennithala was at his home in the Kerala capital.

And then came the announcement that Kerala had waited for 10 days.