NEW DELHI, May 14 -- Ending days of suspense and speculation, the Congress on Thursday named V D Satheesan as the next chief minister of Kerala.
After ten days of intense deliberations, top-level huddles in Thiruvananthapuram and Delhi, fictional battle, and lobbying within the party, the Congress finally chose VD Satheesan, the outgoing Leader of the Opposition over heavyweights like KC Venugopal and Ramesh Chennithala.
Venugopal reportedly enjoyed the backing of a majority of the newly elected Congress MLAs but the public sentiment appeared in favour of Satheesan. The Congress high command analysed the assessment of public mood, mass appeal and political optics ahead of future electoral battles in tilting the scales in favour of VD Satheesan.
Within Congress circles, Venugopal, a trusted Rahul Gandhi aide, was viewed as a formidable contender. It was generally believed that his loyalty to the Gandhi family and his years as AICC general secretary would strengthen his claim. The decision was announced here at a press conference by AICC in-charge of Kerala Deepa Dasmunsi and the party's central observers for the state Ajay Maken and Mukul Wasnik, as well as Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh.
"Based on all the discussions, it has been decided that VD Satheesan be appointed as the leader of the CLP," Dasmunsi told reporters. The three main contenders for the post of chief minister were Satheesan, KC Venugopal and Ramesh Chennithala.
"The Congress Legislature Party had met in Thiruvananthapuram on May 7, 2026 and had unanimously resolved to authorise Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to appoint the new leader of the CLP in the state," Dasmunsi said.
Accordingly, the Congress president has held extensive discussions with Chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, AICC observers who had met with the newly-elected MLAs and many other leaders, including MPs, and former Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee chiefs, she said.
Dasmunshi also brushed aside any talk of divisions within the party and said all were united.
Satheesan and other ministers will be sworn in at a ceremony in Thiruvananthapuram on May 18. Satheesan said that a decision on other ministers will be finalised soon and discussions will begin on Friday.
A decision on the next Kerala chief minister had been pending since May 4 when the Congress-led UDF won 102 seats out of the 140, which is more than a two-thirds majority.
The party's central leadership held wider consultations as the uncertainty continued for days even after party observers Maken and Wasnik met Congress MLAs and gathered their views. The party leadership had also held discussions with the three main contenders for the post and Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee chief Sunny Joseph.
The Congress has 63 MLAs in the 140-member Kerala Assembly. Its allies Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) has 22, Kerala Congress (KEC) has eight and the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) three.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.