Who will be Kerala Chief Minister? 43 MLAs prefer KC Venugopal, 10 left it to Congress chief, say sources
Kerala Govt Formation: Since Priyanka Gandhi is currently a Member of Parliament from Kerala—and Rahul Gandhi has served in that capacity in the past—both are expected to play a pivotal role in determining the next Chief Minister.
As the confusion over Kerala Chief Minister continues, sources on Friday said out of the 63 Congress MLAs, 10 have left the decision to the party high command. Among the 53 MLAs who expressed their preference, 43 named KC Venugopal and within this group of 53, 4 to 5 MLAs cited both KC Venugopal and VD Satheesan as their choices, while 2 to 3 MLAs named KC Venugopal and Ramesh Chennithala.
Since Priyanka Gandhi is currently a Member of Parliament from Kerala—and Rahul Gandhi has served in that capacity in the past—both are expected to play a pivotal role in determining the next Chief Minister.
Congress observers submitt their report to Mallikarjun Kharge
In the meantime, the two Congress observers, appointed to seek the opinion of newly elected MLAs in Kerala, submitted their report to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday and urged the party high command to take a final decision on the chief ministerial candidate.
Ajay Maken and Mukul Wasnik spoke to all the MLAs of the Congress as well as party MPs and submitted their observations to the party leadership. The duo had gone to Kerala on Wednesday and met all the legislators and MPs on Thursday before returning to the national capital.
Sources say majority of MLAs support KC Venugopal
Sources said a majority of the party MLAs are in support of making AICC general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal the chief minister while the public is favouring senior party leader V D Satheesan, who was the leader of opposition in the outgoing Kerala assembly.
Maken and Wasnik discussed with Kharge the observations made by the new party legislators when they met each one of the them individually. They have also spoken to the party MPs and some ex-MPs, the sources said.
Kharge calls three contenders for talks before taking final decision
Besides Venugopal and Satheesan, senior party leader Ramesh Chennithala is also in the race for chief ministership. The sources said Kharge has called all the three contenders for talks before taking a final decision.
They said Venugopal is also keen on assuming the role of chief minister and is using his influence with the party leadership for the selection. His proximity to Rahul Gandhi is also well known and that may come in his favour. The Congress won 63 seats of its own in the 140-member assembly, while the United Democratic Front (UDF) alliance has won 102 seats staging a comeback in the southern state.
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KC Venugopal, Ramesh Chennithala among frontrunners to be next Kerala CM: Sources