3 weeks ago
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The Congress’s bid to sanction a Chief Minister for Kerala remained astatine an impasse contempt Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition successful the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi holding consultations with the 3 main contenders, AICC wide caput (organisation) K.C. Venugopal and elder leaders Ramesh Chennithala and V.D. Satheesan, and KPCC president Sunny Joseph for implicit 3 hours connected Saturday (May 9, 2026).
AICC observers Ajay Maken and Mukul Wasnik were besides contiguous astatine the meeting. The consultations were held unneurotic and individually.
“An due determination volition beryllium taken by the precocious bid successful owed course,” Deepa Dasmunsi, enactment wide caput successful complaint of Kerala, told the media aft the meeting. Asked to specify further, she said the precocious bid had clip until May 23 to finalise the candidate. Flanked by the elder Congress enactment from Kerala, she urged enactment workers to refrain from the embarrassing nationalist show of their chief ministerial choices. The leaders, too, made idiosyncratic appeals to enactment workers and sympathisers to region each boards, banners and posters enactment up successful nationalist places successful enactment of their favourite chief ministerial candidates.
Sources said the high-stakes discussions were marked by aggravated posturing and competing claims by the contenders. The Central enactment would clasp nary further consultations with the aspirants, they said. The precocious command, it is learnt, volition instrumentality a last determination aft considering the claims of each faction, on with the views of Congress MLA-designates and constituents of the United Democratic Front (UDF).
While the consultations successful New Delhi were led by Mr. Kharge, Mr. Gandhi joined in, hoping to scope a consensus. Senior leaders said Mr. Kharge and Mr. Gandhi were visibly dismayed by the poster wars and nationalist marches crossed Kerala implicit the past fewer days, rooting for their favourite leaders, which often appeared discourteous to different leaders.
Workers removed the assertive flex boards, which sullied the party’s representation successful the State, from galore parts pursuing the entreaty adjacent arsenic caller boards supporting different candidates surfaced.
Governance is the eventual currency successful Kerala
Earlier, Mr. Kharge had besides directed the State enactment to instrumentality strict enactment against those violating enactment subject and decorum successful transportation with the Chief Ministerial contention successful Kerala. The precocious bid conveyed that immoderate effort to tarnish the party’s representation would not beryllium tolerated.
Mr. Venugopal has been asserting his assertion to the apical station by highlighting the enactment helium enjoys among a bulk of legislators successful the State, while Mr. Satheesan has continued to property his lawsuit by citing the enactment relation helium played successful securing the party’s awesome triumph successful Kerala. Mr. Chennithala, meanwhile, has been underscoring his seniority wrong the enactment arsenic the ground for his assertion to the post.
Earlier connected Friday, Congress person K. Muraleedharan said that the views of the constituent parties successful the UDF on with the opinions of the MLAs, should beryllium considered successful the statement implicit the chief ministerial candidate. The time besides saw bitter exchanges betwixt KSU and MSF, students helping of the Congress and its UDF partner IUML, aft IUML’s comments astir the selection of Chief Minister drew flak from Congress’s MLA designate Mathew Kuzhalnadan. Congress MP Rajmohan Unnithan, too, took objection to Mr. Kuzhalnadan’s position, bringing to aboveground the differences wrong the Congress.
