Rahul Gandhi holds talks as Congress weighs top contenders for Kerala Chief Minister post

Wider consultations being held as the ‘high command’ could not zero in on a name from among the contenders — K C Venugopal, V D Satheesan and Ramesh Chennithala.

New Delhi: Consultations for choosing a name for Kerala's Chief Minister entered the last leg on Tuesday, with top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi holding discussions with working presidents and former State presidents here who favoured K C Venugopal and V D Satheesan, depending on their stand.

Former presidents M M Hassan, K Sudhakaran, K Muralidharan and V M Sudheeran, disciplinary committee chairman Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan and working presidents Shafi Parambil, A P Anilkumar and P C Vishnunath met Rahul separately. Rahul is also learnt to have spoken to another former Kerala chief Mullappally Ramachrandra over the phone as also with former Chief Minister A K Antony.

The wider consultations came as the ‘high command’ could not zero in on a name from among the contenders — Venugopal, Satheesan and Ramesh Chennithala — after a three-hour-long meeting Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul had on Saturday, as the trio refused to relent from their positions. 

While Venugopal is learnt to have overwhelming support of MLAs, Satheesan has gained the support of general public and party workers as also allies such as the Muslim League. Sources said Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are of the view that public sentiments should not be ignored.

At the meeting, leaders such as Sudhakaran and Hassan as also the three working presidents are learnt to have told Rahul that the support of MLAs should be considered while Muralidharan said that popular sentiments should not be ignored while taking a decision. 

Some leaders, sources indicated, claimed that the demonstrations held in favour of Satheesan were orchestrated by his supporters to put pressure on the ‘high command’. Venugopal has the support of 43 of the 63 Congress MLAs, sources claimed.

Before the meeting, Hassan, who was considered taking a neutral stand, told reporters that the Congress cannot go by what social media discusses or what allies think, indicating that he supports Venugopal.

At a time the projection is that Venugopal is the high command’s choice, the second round of meetings with Kerala leaders is seen as the leadership’s attempt to project the decision as a collective one and unity at a time there is division within the party over the chief ministerial face. 

Sources said leaders of allies have been sounded out that the Congress leadership may reach out to them during the day. Sources said that the Muslim League had indicated its preference for Satheesan during a meeting with Congress observers last week.

The decision to allow observers to meet allies was taken after Muslim League chief Panakkad Sayyid Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal telephoned Rahul, suggesting that they would like such a meeting. Sources said Muslim League’s preference for Satheesan came as he is seen as a leader who has taken a stand when the community was under attack.

Sources said Satheesan also garnered the support of the party after he took on anti-Muslim remarks by leaders such as SNDP’s Vellappally Natesan. While the party may not precipitate a crisis if Satheesan is not chosen, sources said, the Muslim League is likely to rewrite its strategy and could be more demanding during Ministry formation negotiations.