Venugopal or Satheesan? Congress set to end Kerala CM suspense today
After nine days, Congress says deliberations have concluded, even though its bid to work out a compromise formula between the three contenders — K C Venugopal, V D Satheesan and Ramesh Chennithala — goes down to the wire
While KC Venugopal welcomed the nomination of VD Satheesan as the chief minister, Ramesh Chennithala has not so far reacted to the high command’s decision. (File Photo) After nine days of intense drama, hectic lobbying and marathon discussions, the Congress on Wednesday said its Chief Ministerial pick in Kerala would be announced on Thursday. While the party high command maintained that deliberations on the issue have concluded, the delay in announcing a decision suggests that a formula acceptable to all three contenders — outgoing Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Kerala Assembly V D Satheesan, AICC general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal and former Kerala LoP Ramesh Chennithala — was still being worked out.
The announcement came after a nearly 40-minute meeting between Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and LoP in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi. “As authorised by the members of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in Kerala, the high command of the Congress has completed all discussions, and the decision on who the next Chief Minister of Kerala will be will be announced tomorrow (Thursday),” Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh said.
The three contenders, meanwhile, appeared set for another long night as the party high command grappled with an unprecedented situation. In recent years, the leadership has not taken this long to decide on a CM in any state, including Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, where competing claimants had forced the party leadership to work out compromise formulas.
While Chennithala has not given up his claim, the contest has largely narrowed down to Venugopal and Satheesan. Venugopal, though not an MLA, enjoys the backing of a majority of the newly elected MLAs and a sizeable section of state leaders. Satheesan, meanwhile, has the support of the UDF allies, particularly the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), the coalition’s second-largest constituent with 22 seats. There is also a perception within the party that public sentiments favour Satheesan.
Several Congress allies and a large section of the party cadre believe the UDF’s emphatic victory was shaped largely by Satheesan’s aggressive leadership and sustained political mobilisation across Kerala over the past five years.
The Venugopal camp, however, argues that the party should adhere to the convention of appointing as CM a leader who commands the support of the CLP, which is likely to meet at 1 pm on Thursday.
Those backing Satheesan contend that the leadership should also take into account the perceived public mood and the views of the allies. They also point out that Venugopal is a Lok Sabha MP and that the party high command had decided ahead of the Assembly elections not to field the MPs.
Even so, Congress history offers exceptions to both conventions. There have been instances of MPs becoming CMs, as well as occasions when the high command overruled the CLP’s preference. In 2021, the Congress appointed Charanjit Singh Channi as the Punjab CM after the resignation of Captain Amarinder Singh, despite senior leader Sunil Jakhar reportedly enjoying the support of a majority of MLAs.
There are also precedents of non-MLAs being appointed the CMs. The most recent precedent in this regard was that of Kamal Nath, who became Madhya Pradesh CM in 2018 while serving as a Lok Sabha MP. Bhupinder Singh Hooda assumed office as the Haryana CM in 2005 while he was an MP, and Tarun Gogoi was appointed the Assam CM in 2001 despite not being an MLA at the time.
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