Kerala CM Decision Delayed as Congress Talks Enter Day 7
According to reports, the high command will complete the remaining formalities soon, and an announcement could be made at the earliest
Deliberations and behind-the-scene consultations to pick the next chief minister of Kerala entered the seventh day on Monday with no breakthrough yet. The Congress high command has already held several rounds of talks with V. D. Satheesan, Ramesh Chennithala and K. C. Venugopal the frontrunners for the post. However, the leadership has not yet been able to arrive at a final consensus on a single name.
Though the three leaders and their supporters are hopeful of their chances, AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge or senior leader Rahul Gandhi have not given any indications on the final decision.
As the party put a break to the discussions on Sunday with Rahul Gandhi left for Chennai to attend Vijay’s oath taking ceremony as Tamil Nadu chief minister and Kharge travelled to Bengaluru, leaders from Kerala returned to the state. V.D. Satheesan and KPCC president Sunny Joseph returned to Kerala on Saturday night after the discussions. Ramesh Chennithala, who stayed back in Delhi for personal engagements, also returned on Sunday night. The deliberations are expected to resume on Monday evening or Tuesday.
According to reports, the high command will complete the remaining formalities soon, and an announcement could be made at the earliest.
Earlier, the AICC observers had arrived in Kerala and held discussions with MLA-designates and UDF allies to know their opinion. The opinion of veteran party leader A.K Antony will be considered before taking a final decision. According to reports, AICC chief and Rahul Gandhi will announce the chief minister after seeking the opinion of party parliamentary leader Sonia Gandhi.
Meanwhile, there is growing resentment among the party workers over the inordinate delay in picking the CM face, even one week after the Congress-led UDF’s sweeping victory in the assembly elections. Even the party state leaders share the feeling that the delay could create a negative perception. They point to the swearing-in of Vijay as Chief Minister of neighbouring Tamil Nadu, even though his party, TVK, did not secure a clear majority.
