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Even as Congress named V. D. Satheesan as Keralam Chief Minister, knocking out from the race contenders such as K. C. Venugopal and Ramesh Chennithala, party insiders said that it was not an easy decision to make. This was obvious from the multiple discussions held on the matter by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge with chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP), Sonia Gandhi and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi.
The Congress announced the name of Satheesan after a delay of 10 days. He will take oath on May 18, Monday, exactly two weeks after the results were declared on May 4.
Party insiders said that the Congress was in a fix as Venugopal emerged as the frontrunner to the top post following a report from observers Mukul Wasnik and Ajay Maken, who had conducted a meeting of the newly elected members and had also spoken to them one on one. Sources said that Venugopal got 43 votes out of the 63 Congress elected MLAs, followed by Satheesan and Chennithala.
A party insider said that Rahul Gandhi met several senior Congress leaders from Kerala including MPs, working presidents and others to discuss the issue. Even Sonia Gandhi had a telephonic conversation with veteran leader A. K. Antony to discuss the issue, as several protests erupted in parts of Keralam demanding that Satheesan be made Chief Minister.
The final decision was taken on May 13 evening, when Kharge and Rahul Gandhi had a detailed discussion for over 40 minutes.
The source said that the two leaders discussed the possible outcomes of Venugopal being named Chief Minister face and the fact that he would then have to contest a bypoll within six months to get elected to the Assembly. And if Venugopal lost that election, it would be a big setback.
The party insider also claimed that on May 13 night, Rahul Gandhi and his sister and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also discussed the issue.
The insider said that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra pointed out how the support of the Indian Union Muslim League and Kerala Congress was important for the party and their demand for Satheesan as CM needed to be respected. It was after this that Satheesan’s name was finalised, following which on May 14 morning, Rahul Gandhi met Venugopal for two hours at his residence.
Another party insider also pointed out that if Venugopal had contested the Assembly polls, then no one could have stopped him from becoming Chief Minister.
The source claimed that many party leaders had asked Venugopal to contest but he himself refused as the party had made it clear that no sitting MP would be fielded in the Assembly elections.
Instead, Venugopal steered the campaign of the party from the front, and also played a crucial role in dissuading many rebel leaders from contesting independently.
However, another party source claimed that some mistakes were committed by Venugopal leading to the party losing a few seats. The source said that Venugopal had a major say in ticket distribution and thus Satheesan had very few options to push for other candidates.
The source added that Satheesan emerged as the frontrunner, as it was he who was the face of the campaign and led coordinated attacks on the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left Democratic Front government. The party leadership was miffed by the protests taking place in Satheesan’s support but they realised that he enjoyed a huge support among the masses, which went to his favour.
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