Congress Struggles To Select Next Kerala CM Candidate
The party has also asked senior MLA Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan and working presidents P C Vishnunath, Shafi Parambil and A P Anil Kumar to come to Delhi
New Delhi: Eight days after securing a two-third majority in the Kerala Assembly elections, the Congress found it tough to pick its Chief Minister candidate. After meeting the three aspirants, K.C. Venugopal, V.D. Satheesan and Ramesh Chennithala, the party high command summoned former state unit chiefs to Delhi.
AICC incharge of Keralam Deepa Dasmunshi along with observers Ajay Maken and Mukul Wasnik are expected to go Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday. The announcement of the name of the CM in the Kerala capital.
Sources said Venugopal was the frontrunner and Chennithala had been assured the Speaker’ss post. The dilemma that the Congress managers face is ensuring that Satheesan is happy and proposes the name of Venugopal.
The party's central leadership is holding wider consultations as the uncertainty continues even after party observers Ajay Maken and Mukul
Wasnik met Congress MLAs and gathered their views, following which the leadership held discussions with the three main contenders for the post and KPCC president Sunny Joseph.
Among those who met party senior leader Rahul Gandhi were Kerala former Congress presidents former M.M. Hassan, K. Sudhakaran and K. Muraleedharan, Kerala Congress disciplinary committee head Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan as well as working presidents Shafi Parambil, A.P. Anil Kumar and P.C. Vishunath.
Muraleedharan had earlier said the Chief Minister would not be decided merely based on the opinion of MLAs; the UDF partners and the general public would also be taken into consideration.
Earlier this week, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi had met Venugopal, Satheesan and Chennithala separately. The message being sent out by the Congress high command is that this was a victory of the party organisation and not of any individual. Observers sent by AICC Ajay Maken and Mukul Wasnik were also present.
The Congress has 63 MLAs in the 140-member Kerala Assembly. Its allies Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) has 22, Kerala Congress (KEC) has eight and the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) three.
