Thiruvananthapuram/Kochi | In Kerala, the homes of Congress Chief Minister hopefuls Ramesh Chennithala and V D Satheesan remained crowded on Wednesday with anxious supporters through the day as suspense over the party's leadership choice continued.
The wait finally eased late in the evening when AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh, speaking in New Delhi, said the Congress high command would announce its decision on Thursday.
AICC general secretary for organisation, K C Venugopal, Leader of Opposition in the outgoing Kerala assembly, Satheesan, and senior party leader Chennithala are among those in the race for the top post after the Congress-led UDF swept the April 9 elections.
As word spread that the Congress high command would take a final call after Rahul Gandhi met party president Mallikarjun Kharge in New Delhi on Wednesday evening, the homes of CM hopefuls Chennithala in Vazhuthacaud, Thiruvananthapuram, and Satheesan in Aluva near Kochi became centres of tense anticipation.
Party workers from across Kerala gathered outside both residences through the day, waiting for word from Delhi.
Supporters arriving from Haripad, Chennithala's home constituency, as well as districts including Wayanad and Alappuzha, waited in clusters on the premises and nearby roadside, constantly tracking television channels and scrolling through mobile phones for updates emerging from the national capital.
Every passing phone call or television flash triggered fresh speculation among the workers, many of whom expressed confidence that the senior Congress leader would finally get the nod from the party high command.
"Everyone here has strong hope and excitement. We believe Chennithala ji is the natural choice considering his long political and organisational experience," said a woman party worker waiting outside the residence.
Another supporter who travelled from Haripad described him as "a leader who lives in the hearts of Kerala people" and said party workers across the state were eagerly awaiting a favourable announcement.
The atmosphere outside the residence remained charged with expectation as supporters continued to gather while the Congress central leadership held crucial discussions in Delhi over the leadership issue.
Meanwhile, a few Congress MLAs, including Mohammed Shiyas, visited Satheesan's home in the morning. As the day progressed, a large crowd of his supporters gathered outside his residence, hoping for his selection as chief minister.
In the evening, the number of supporters increased, and they raised slogans in favour of Satheesan as the expected time of announcement of the Kerala CM by the party high command neared.
In their slogans, the supporters described him as the "guardian of secularism" and waved party flags.
They told reporters that the high command should consider public opinion when deciding who should be the CM, which, they said, was in favour of Satheesan.
They also said that while most MLAs may not be supporting Satheesan, the party workers were behind him.
The supporters included a large number of women, who said it was Satheesan who had predicted that the UDF would win more than 100 seats, and therefore he should be made chief minister.
"We are excitedly awaiting the announcement that he is chief minister," the women said.
They also expressed confidence that Satheesan would be selected and said he would travel to the state capital with a big smile.
However, Satheesan did not step out of his residence.
His supporters also said he was the only leader who had said he would withdraw from politics if the UDF did not achieve a big victory, and therefore he should be made chief minister.
The Congress party has been struggling to decide on its next CM in Kerala, holding several rounds of talks with state leaders and former party chiefs.
Top party leader Rahul Gandhi had earlier met multiple leaders from Kerala, including around eight former state unit presidents, to understand the situation on the ground.
Growing protests from party workers at the grassroots level also pushed the leadership to widen consultations before taking a final decision.
Within the UDF alliance, most partners are said to favour Satheesan, who also enjoys strong support among party workers and sections of the public.
However, the emergence of Venugopal, who is currently based in New Delhi, as a key contender, and Chennithala’s claim based on his experience, has made the decision difficult for the high command.
Kottayam (Kerala) | NSS general secretary G Sukumaran Nair said on Wednesday that UDF coalition partners, including the IUML, should not have interfered in the Kerala chief minister selection process and that their intervention had delayed the decision.
Nair claimed that not just the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), but other UDF coalition parties also interfered in the selection process, which was an internal matter of the Congress. They should not have interfered or backed any of the leaders under consideration for the post, he said.
"The delay in a decision by the Congress central leadership is due to this interference. If not, the decision would have come much earlier," he said.
Nair also claimed that there was some mystery behind the poster campaigns in support of the three leaders -- K C Venugopal, V D Satheesan and Ramesh Chennithala.
He alleged that pressure was exerted by some coalition parties even before the Congress high command decided to seek their views.
"In fact, the high command decided to seek their views due to the pressure exerted by them," the general secretary of the Nair Service Society, a forward Nair community outfit, told reporters here.
The interference by the coalition partners of the Congress was undemocratic, he added.
Nair also claimed that interventions were made by some as they wanted everything to come under them -- in a reference to the coalition partners' role in the matter.
The NSS general secretary further said that if an election is held now, the UDF will not even get 30 seats in view of the public opinion being against them currently over the CM selection issue.
"People are fed up with them right now," he claimed.