Venugopal factor looms as Congress huddles to pick Kerala CM

Days after the results of the Kerala Assembly election gave a decisive mandate to the Congress-led UDF, the party is yet to finalise its chief ministerial face, with its top brass in a huddle. The X-factor in the Kerala story is the powerful general secretary (organisation), K C Venugopal, the Lok Sabha MP from Alappuzha who has thrown his hat in the ring even though he did not contest the assembly elections. Also in active contention are state Congress leaders V D Satheesan, who is the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the outgoing assembly, and former LoP Ramesh Chennithala, considered close to former party president Sonia Gandhi. The senior leaders gathered at Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge's residence in the national capital, where they discussed the report of central observers, who are learnt to have indicated that a majority of MLAs support Venugopal. Sources said around 43 MLAs and all party MPs from the state have supported Venugopal as chief minister, given his stature in the Congress. With Venugopal clearly ahead of others in the race, the decision rests with Rahul Gandhi on whether he will allow his confidant to go to Kerala, where he was previously a party MP and where his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is now the MP from the Wayanad constituency. The Congress's dilemma is also about choosing between a central leader, Venugopal, and Kerala leaders with ground support -- V D Satheesan and Ramesh Chennithala -- both of whom have strong pockets of influence in the state. Whereas Venugopal is considered close to Rahul Gandhi, Satheesan has emerged as a strong contender after Congress ally IUML openly backed him for the top post. The poster war and the street protests and demonstrations by workers in favour of their leaders have not gone down well with the leadership, which has now asked the three leaders to put an immediate end to them. The Congress has 63 MLAs in the 140-member Kerala assembly after the poll results were declared on May 4. Ally IUML has 22 seats and its opinion will matter. Kerala Congress (KEC) has won eight seats, and the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) has won three seats. The UDF has won a total of 102 seats, which is more than a two-thirds majority. Supporters of Chennithala, on the other hand, argue that when the Congress was elected the last time, Chennithala had backed out in favour of Oomen Chandy and had honoured the latter's seniority. Chennithala's supporters are now expecting the same courtesies from Satheesan, who is eight years younger than the former LOP. While Chennithala is 69 years old, Satheesan is 61, and Venugopal is 63. Kerala Congress leaders, meanwhile, said Satheesan played a very active role as the Leader of Opposition in the outgoing Kerala assembly and laid the groundwork for the ouster of the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left Democratic Front (LDF). In the run-up to the assembly elections, Kannur MP K Sudhakaran (77) was keen to contest the assembly elections but was later placated by the party leadership and former defence minister A K Antony not to contest. The Congress took a principled stand in this assembly election that no party MP would contest the assembly elections. On whether an MP would be spared to be the chief minister after the poll results, the party high command will decide, the sources said. AICC in-charge for Kerala Deepa Dasmunshi said the Congress high command will decide ''very soon'' on who the party's chief minister would be. However, all have agreed that whatever the decision of the high command, it will be acceptable to all.

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