Venugopal, Satheesan or Chennithala? Kerala chief ministerial race reaches deadlock, Congress high command steps in

The party high command will seek opinions from the former KPCC president and working chairman on Tuesday before drawing a conclusion.Senior leaders who visited Delhi include former KPCC president VM Sudheeran, Mullappally Ramachandran, K Muraleedharan, K Sudhakaran and PM Hassan.The party also invited senior MP Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan and working presidents PC Vishnunath, Shafi Parambil and AP Anil Kumar to participate in the discussion.Party sources said talks will take place on Tuesday and a final decision is expected soon.The three front-runners for the chief minister’s post are Ramesh Chennithala, VD Satheesan and AICC general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal.While uncertainty persists after party observers Ajay Maken and Mukul Wasnik met MPs and gathered their feedback, the central leadership is broadening the scope of consultations, followed by separate discussions with the three contenders and KPCC chief Sonny Joseph.The move to hold consultations with the former KPCC chief has boosted the Satheesan camp, which also enjoys strong grassroots support among UDF workers and is backed by key ally the Indian Muslim League (IUML).According to reports, at least two former KPCC presidents Sudheeran and Muraleedharan believed that public sentiment should be taken into consideration before finalizing the chief minister.The Satheesan camp believes that the IUML’s stance also reflects the public sentiment.They further claimed that if Venugopal is elected, it may trigger two by-elections, one for his entry into the Assembly and another for the Alappuzha Lok Sabha seat, saying there are political risks in the by-elections at this stage.Venugopal camp leaders, however, believe that the AICC general secretary (organisation) has the support of a majority of MLAs and is a key strategist who can enhance UDF’s prospects in the future. They also claim to have the support of a majority of Congress MPs in Kerala.The Chennithala camp insists that he is a leader at the highest level who has always stood by the party and the Nehru-Gandhi family even in difficult times.They also highlighted his long organizational experience, including his role in the NSU(I) and the Youth Congress, and argued that several leaders who worked under him later became chief ministers or union ministers.His supporters further said that unlike the rival camp, they respected party discipline by avoiding public displays such as poster campaigns or street protests.Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party criticized the Congress for not declaring a chief minister despite having the support of 63 MLAs and three independents (out of a total of 66), claiming that the delay reflected pressure from the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Muslim League.Surendran, the former president of the BJP, posted on Facebook: “Even with the support of 63 MLAs and three independent MLAs (total 66 MLAs), who do the Congress top brass fear when announcing the chief minister? The answer is simple, it is the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Muslim League. Anyone with basic common sense can understand that they are the ones causing all this commotion.”“He further claimed that whoever is eventually appointed as the chief minister will first visit the Panakkadthangal residence upon arrival at Karipur airport and criticized what he called the “secular majority” voters’ view of the next five years.