Kerala Assembly Elections 2026 | Delay in decision on CM post fuels resentment among people

Thiruvananthapuram: The delay on the part of the AICC in finalising the Kerala Chief Minister is triggering strong resentment among the people apart from party workers and coalition partners.

Despite the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) returning to power with a historic win in 102 seats of the 140 member house, the Congress is unable to finalise the CM even a week after the results came on May 4.

Even as party workers stopped the poster-banner campaign for the leaders of their choice considering the appeal of the three top contenders to the CM post on Saturday, the social media is abuzz with criticism against the party for the delay.

"Already enough damage has been caused to the party. The infight among the senior leaders for the CM post has taken the sheen off the thumping victory that the UDF got. As the delay prolongs the damage will worsen," a Congress local leader has said.

The curiosity over the next Chief Minister is indeed the talk of the town and the AICC leadership is at the receiving end for the delay.

The AICC leadership is in a fix in making a choice in view of the claim being staked by AICC general secretary K C Venugopal and senior leader Ramesh Chennithala.

Former opposition leader V D Satheesan, who has been leading the UDF over the last five years and in the elections, has emerged as a natural choice and is receiving much mass support and backing of coalition partners.

Even as Venugopal got the support of maximum number of elected members of Congress, the chances of BJP winning the by-poll to the Alappuzha Lok Sabha seat that Venugopal will have to vacate to become an MLA in Kerala is a major hurdle for him. Coalition partners of the Congress had also cited this risk.

In case Venugopal is selected as the CM, it could also trigger resentment among other Congress MPs from Kerala as the AICC leadership turned down the request of some other sitting MPs to contest the assembly polls citing that no sitting MPs shall contest the assembly polls.

The chances of Ramesh Chennithala, who is a former opposition leader, emerging as a compromise candidate is also not being ruled out by Congress sources.