New Delhi | Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi will take the final decision on the new Kerala chief minister and the name will be announced very soon, the party said on Saturday and urged UDF workers to stop campaigns for various leaders in the state.
Congress' top brass held an over three-hour meeting to discuss government formation in Kerala in the national capital. The meeting convened by Kharge at his residence was attended by Rahul Gandhi, AICC general secretary in-charge of the state, Deepa Dasmunshi, General Secretary, Organisation, K C Venugopal, and senior Kerala leaders Ramesh Chennithala and V D Satheesan.
Venugopal, Satheesan and Chennithala are considered to be the frontrunners in the race for the CM's post.
"Everyone expressed their views, and Rahulji heard them patiently. The final decision on the chief minister will be taken by the Congress high command, and whatever decision is made will be accepted by all," Chennithala said.
Kerala Congress unit chief Sunny Joseph and senior observers, Ajay Maken and Mukul Wasnik, were also present.
"Very soon, in due time, we will get our final decision by our high command," Dasmunshi told reporters after the meeting when asked about the new chief minister in Kerala.
"Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi will take the final decision," she said when asked as to "who in the high command will take the call".
"All Congress MLAs have signed a one-line resolution authorising the high command to make the final decision," she said.
Referring to protests by various factions in the winning Congress-led UDF alliance in Kerala in the last two days over the issue of the chief ministerial candidate, she said some unruly incidents have happened and they are not part of the Congress culture and urged the party workers to put an end to them.
"People have given us a landslide majority and those unruly incidents are not our Congress culture. We are urging all our workers to stop this kind of activity," she told reporters.
When pressed further about the announcement of the chief minister's name, she replied, "We will have a final decision very soon.
"23rd May is the last day. I think in due time, we will get the final decision by our high command and we are waiting for that. In due time, the due course of action will be taken. The final decision has to be taken by the high command."
Dasmunshi was flanked by Congress leaders from the state.
Satheesan said that the party has scored a historic and brilliant win in Kerala Assembly polls due to the hard work by all, but subsequently, there have been demonstrations, social media campaigns and putting up of flexboards with regarding the CM selection that has created an image of division in the party.
"We are all together requesting that - please do not carry out such demonstrations and campaigns for any of us. It will hurt Congress workers, the UDF activists and the large number of people who voted for us," he said.
He urged all UDF workers that no campaigns of this kind should be held, and all flexboards across the state in this regard should be removed.
"We humbly request that there be no more demonstrations," Satheesan said.
Endorsing his views, Venugopal said that people gave a huge victory to them and want a UDF government that will work for them. "There have been some unfortunate incidents. They should be ended."
He said that for all Congress members, the party and the people are the most important.
While noting that there is nothing wrong with a section of people preferring a certain leader, he said campaigns tarnishing the image of others should be stopped.
Chennithala said the meeting of Kerala leaders was held at the residence of the Congress President, where the political situation in Kerala after the election in Thiruvananthapuram was discussed.
The senior Congress leader said they have also decided that there will be no demonstrations in Kerala. Flexboards should not be put up and publicity highlighting individual leaders should not be carried out, he said.
"This (campaigns, demonstrations) should all be ended so that it does not tarnish the image of the party before the people," he said.
Joseph said they have assured that the Congress high command's decision regarding the CM will be unanimously accepted by everyone.
"We all want the unfortunate incidents that took place recently to be corrected. We request all party workers and supporters to cooperate with us in this regard," he said.
New Delhi | 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.
Thiruvananthapuram/New Delhi | Congress workers across Kerala on Saturday began removing flex boards and posters put up in support of party leaders V D Satheesan, K C Venugopal and Ramesh Chennithala after they jointly appealed to their supporters to end public campaigns related to the chief minister’s selection.
The move began at the KPCC headquarters, Indira Bhavan, in Thiruvananthapuram, where party workers removed flex boards from the office premises soon after the leaders made the appeal in New Delhi following discussions with the Congress high command.
Congress workers, including Youth Congress and KSU activists, also removed flex boards of the three leaders installed across the state capital.
A rally planned in support of Satheesan at Sultan Bathery was also called off while the meeting was underway in New Delhi.
Apart from Thiruvananthapuram, Congress workers removed flex boards installed by supporters of the three leaders in Alappuzha, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Kannur, Kottayam and Wayanad districts.
On the other hand, a group of supporters also held a demonstration in support of Satheesan in Malappuram even after the appeal.
The appeal came after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge met in New Delhi with Satheesan, Venugopal and Chennithala, along with KPCC president Sunny Joseph and AICC general secretary in-charge of Kerala, Deepa Dasmunshi, over the selection of the leader of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) who will be the next chief minister of Kerala.
Later in the evening, Satheesan, Chennithala, Venugopal, Joseph and Dasmunshi jointly addressed reporters and appealed to party workers to refrain from demonstrations and flex board campaigns.
Satheesan said separate demonstrations, social media campaigns and flex board displays linked to the chief minister’s selection had created an impression of division within the party.
"So, we are all together requesting that you please do not carry out such demonstrations and campaigns for any of us. It will hurt Congress workers, UDF activists and the large number of people who voted for us," he said.
He urged UDF workers not to conduct any further campaigns and asked that all flex boards related to the issue be removed by Saturday night.
Venugopal said some unfortunate incidents had taken place and should come to an end.
"We are all party members. The party and the people are most important to us. There is nothing wrong with liking someone, but campaigns on our behalf while tarnishing the image of others should end," he said.
Chennithala also said the flex board war, demonstrations and social media campaigns should stop.
"It should all end so that it does not tarnish the image of the party before the people. Party workers should remain united. All flex boards should be removed tonight, and all campaigns should end. Whatever decision the Congress high command takes should be accepted by all," he said.
Joseph said everyone wanted the recent unfortunate incidents to be corrected.
"We request all party workers and supporters to cooperate with us in this regard," he said.
UDF secured a thumping victory in the state assembly election, winning 102 out of 140 seats.
The Congress, the prominent constituent of the UDF, has 63 MLAs.
Recently, the CLP passed a resolution stating that the next chief minister of Kerala will be decided by the party president.