Rahul Gandhi Wants KC Venugopal As Kerala Chief Minister, Meets Him Privately: Sources

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's choice for the chief minister's post in Kerala is KC Venugopal, the party MP from the state's Alappuzha Lok Sabha seat, people with direct knowledge of the matter said. The next two days would be spent on convincing party workers and leaders to support Venugopal for the top post, sources said.

Before Congress leaders officially met at party chief Mallikarjun Kharge's place in Delhi, Rahul Gandhi met Venugopal separately, sources said. They said posters deriding Venugopal, who's also the Congress's general secretary (organisation), were put up allegedly with support from another influential party leader, VD Satheesan.

When Satheesan arrived at the meeting, Rahul Gandhi asked about the allegation against him, sources said, adding Satheesan admitted he is against Venugopal becoming the chief minister.

Satheesan' argument was that Venugopal, being a Congress general secretary, exerted pressure on MLAs to create camps and groups, sources said. On his part, Satheesan pointed out he never worked to create groups for his own benefit and took everyone along when he served as Leader of Opposition in Kerala.

Sources said Satheesan told the Congress leadership that the party could have won more seats if it had not taken candidates inserted by Venugopal in Nenmara, Kazhakootam, Wadakanchery, Nedumangad and Cherthala.

Venugopal was already seen to be ahead of others in the race. The Congress however has to decide on choosing a central leader as Venugopal or a local leader who enjoys support on the ground.

Satheesan and Ramesh Chennithala, another hopeful, have strong pockets of influence in the southern state. Satheesan has the support of the Congress's ally IUML for the chief minister's post.

These factors culminated into a poster war and street protests by workers in favour of their leaders. The Congress has 63 MLAs in the 140-member Kerala assembly; IUML has 22 seats and so its opinion will matter. Kerala Congress (KEC) won eight seats, and the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) took three seats. The UDF has won a total of 102 seats, which is more than a two-thirds majority.

Kerala Congress leaders have said Satheesan played a big 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).