A week after the UDF’s emphatic victory in Kerala, the Congress high command remains deadlocked over the chief ministerial choice, triggering unease within the alliance and ridicule from the BJP.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has summoned former Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee presidents M.M. Hassan, V.M. Sudheeran, Mullapally Ramachandran and K. Muraleedharan to Delhi on Tuesday for consultations aimed at breaking the impasse. Ramachandran, however, has reportedly informed senior leader Rahul Gandhi that he is unable to travel to the capital.
Kerala Congress chief Sunny Joseph, working presidents A.P. Anil Kumar, P.C. Vishnunadh and Shafi Parambil, along with veteran leader and Kannur MP K. Sudhakaran, have also been called for discussions. Kharge is also expected to consult senior Congress veteran A. K. Antony before a final decision is made.
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The main contenders for the chief minister’s post are Congress general secretary K. C. Venugopal, Opposition leader in the outgoing assembly V. D. Satheesan and senior leader Ramesh Chennithala. According to reports, the extensive consultations are also intended to project that the party has taken all stakeholders into confidence before announcing its choice.
Following Tuesday’s marathon meetings, Kharge is expected to discuss the matter with senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi before arriving at a final decision. Party insiders say the leadership is also waiting for tempers in Kerala to cool after demonstrations and poster wars between supporters of Satheesan and Venugopal erupted last week.
The prolonged uncertainty has begun to worry Congress allies. The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a key UDF constituent, warned that further delay could have political consequences. IUML Malappuram district general secretary P. Abdul Hameed said the indecision had already created dissatisfaction among party workers and the public.
“The decision has already been delayed. If it is prolonged further, there will be repercussions. We hope the AICC leadership realises this,” he said, adding that people were discussing the issue “everywhere, including marriage functions and funerals”.
The BJP, which reopened its account in the Kerala Assembly with three seats, also mocked the Congress over the delay. Reacting to a social media post claiming that the Kerala BJP wanted Venugopal to remain in the state while the national BJP preferred him in Delhi, BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar quipped on X: “I will neither confirm nor deny that this is true.”
The remark referenced earlier social media criticism targeting Venugopal — a close aide of Rahul Gandhi — and blaming him for the Congress party’s defeats in several states.
