Despite a week after the United Democratic Front (UDF) stormed to power in Kerala, the Congress has not been able to decide on the next chief minister and confusion still persists over selecting someone between Ramesh Chennithala, KC Venugopal and VD Satheesan. The party has now called a meeting of its Kerala leaders again to clear the confusion.
"The Congress high command is reaching out to the senior leaders of Kerala Congress. Former Kerala Congress Presidents have been called to Delhi. K Sudhakaran will be coming to Delhi tonight. Other leaders are also coming to Delhi. K Muraleedharan and Mullapally Ramachandra have been reached out today," Congress sources told news agency ANI on Monday.
Earlier, India TV had reported that Venugopal remains the favourite for the top post in Kerala. Venugopal, a Lok Sabha MP who comes from the influential Nair community of Kerala, is known for his closeness with Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge and is considered to be a link between Congress and its state units.
Sources, cited by news agency PTI, have said that majority of the 63 Congress MLAs want Venugopal to be made the chief minister. But at the same time, many believe that Chennithala and Satheesan deserve the post. Chennithala also belongs to the Nair community, while Satheesan is considered to be the public's choice.
While Chennithala has stated that all Congress and UDF workers will accept the high command's call on the chief ministerial post, reports have claimed that Satheensan has demanded the top post for himself and he will unlikely accept any other position in the state.
The situation has further escalated after supporters of all three leaders waged a war on social media only to increase headache for the Congress top brass.
"We have conveyed whatever we had to say to the high command. They have heard everything. The rest is for them to decide," Chennithala told reporters on Monday after returning from New Delhi. "All the discussions have been completed. We are not taking as much time as the Left Front took last time."
The UDF had secured a clear majority in Kerala elections, bagging 102 seats. The Congress was the single largest party with 63 seats. Allies like the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and the Kerala Congress won 22 and seven seats, respectively, according to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
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