Support from voters or support from MLAs? Congress weighs Kerala’s options

Kochi/New Delhi: The Congress leadership has summoned the leading contenders for the post of Kerala chief minister for discussions, with insiders seeing the election process as a trade-off between “internal party support” and “public sentiment” for the two aspirants.Opposition leaders VD Satheesan, Ramesh Chennithala and KC Venugopal, besides state president Sunny Joseph, will also hold talks with party presidents Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, sources said. They said a decision on who will lead the Kerala government will be made on Sunday.The process moved to Delhi after AICC observers Ajay Maken and Mukul Wasnik, who held a meeting with state legislators a day earlier, submitted their report to Kharge on Friday. Meanwhile, Kerala Congress MP Shashi Tharoor met Haq and shared his feedback on the issue as well as the political scenario in the state.According to sources, more than 80 per cent MLAs have earmarked Venugopal as their first choice for the top job. It came to the aid of the AICC general secretary, who is also a close aide of Rahul.But they said the party must consider “public sentiment” before making a decision. In their view, Satishan enjoyed strong support among the people, who saw him as a bulwark that had guided the Congress-led United Democratic Forces against the Left Front government for five years.Additionally, the Congress must also consider that Venugopal’s tenure as chief minister will lead to two by-elections – the Assembly seat he will vacate and the Assembly seat he will contest from.Against a backdrop of uncertainty, another political option is also being actively discussed within Congress.According to sources, there are indications that even though Venugopal enjoys majority support in the CLP (Congress Party), he may cite Chennithala’s experience and make way for Chennithala. The Venugopal and Chennithala camps are reportedly studying the move, apparently to stop Satheesan from consolidating support for the top job. They believe Satheesan will be forced to accept this.It is learned that AICC observers have informed the high command that the political situation in Kerala remains sensitive and a decision must be taken quickly. They also advocated taking allies’ perspectives into account.Another issue that needs to be considered is whether Rahul can remove Venugopal as the general secretary of the AICC in charge of the organization, who has been Rahul’s representative on party issues for the past few years. In addition, he was responsible for Congress management of the Parliament and coordination with India Group allies. Venugopal’s prominence can also be seen in the fact that he chairs a key parliamentary panel – the Public Accounts Committee – which is usually chaired by opposition leaders.The party brass hopes to convince the contenders to accept the final choice as they do not want any discord among the disappointed Netas to dampen the joy of the UDF’s resounding victory.