People of Kerala spoke out loud and clear on May 4, handing out a decisive poll mandate to the Congress-led United Democratic Front and spelling the demise of Left-led governments in India with the fall of the last red bastion under Pinarayi Vijayan.
While the voters of the key southern state are clear what they want, the Congress itself is not so sure. Nothing else explains the lingering delay in the finalisation of Kerala chief minister’s name.
It has been six days and counting and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s Delhi residence has become a centre of frenetic meetings to resolve the stalemate.
Insiders say there are no easy solutions. Reason – at the core of the Congress conundrum in Kerala is the all-powerful AICC general secretary in charge of organisation KC Venugopal, the man closest to Rahul Gandhi in the party.
Venugopal has staked claim to the CM chair in Kerala even though Leader of Opposition in the State assembly VD Satheesan slogged it out against Vijayan-led LDF for five years with wide belief that the popular support was for him.
But Venugopal’s claim has complicated the situation and insiders say the tussle is a litmus test for Rahul Gandhi.
Can Rahul rise above personal loyalties to reward ground work? asked a senior Congress leader adding, “he must.” Within Kerala, Rahul withstood an early challenge to state leaders by taking a principled stand that no MP will contest the Assembly elections. This kept Venugopal, Lok Sabha MP from Alappuzha, out of race for the state CM ship.
Rahul gave another signal that he wanted Venugopal at the Centre when he recommended the Kerala MP to return as chairman of Parliament’s most important committee – Public Accounts Committee.
Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla even re-nominated Venugopal to the key role.
When this happened, everyone had thought the road for Kerala CM ship was clear and state leaders – Satheesan and former leader of opposition Ramesh Chennithala will sort it out between them.
No one was expecting Venugopal to renter the race.
But when central observers Ajay Maken and Mukul Wasnik were sent to Kerala to meet the elected MLAs, majority backed Venugopal.
The observers’ report in the matter has further complicated the equation because the Congress has always said it will go by the will of the lawmakers though it has often bent that rule in the past to nominate the high command favourites.
Prime example of this is Punjab where Rahul projected Charanjit Singh Channi as the CM face despite the MLAs wanting Sunil Jakhar – a move that laid the ground for the latter’s eventual switch to the BJP.
Congress sources say the decision on Kerala would be taken by Kharge and Rahul, who would need to find a way to douse the ambitions of Venugopal.
The continuing Congress confusion today even resonated in the speech Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave in Karnataka where he accused the grand old party of stabbing its own leaders in the back by promising them roles and then reneging.
The PM’s reference was to the ongoing feud over leadership of Karnataka between Congress veterans CM Siddaramaiah and state chief DK Shiva Kumar and similar erstwhile battles across Chhattisgarh, MP and Rajasthan.
Rahul is learnt to have spoken to Venugopal who hasn’t yet revealed his cards.
The influence the senior leader has with Rahul is his strength and this proximity goes back to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls when Venugopal saved Rahul’s Lok Sabha berth by suggesting he contest from two seats, Amethi and Wayanad. Rahul lost Amethi and won Kerala’s Wayanad and that brought him close to Venugopal.
Satheesan is popular with Kerala voters for fighting the Left Front government from the front.
Chennithala for his part is close to Sonia Gandhi having worked with late Rajiv Gandhi in the past.
Chennithala has also reminded Satheesan of some graces in politics. His aides have been saying how Chennithala quit the CM race earlier in favour of late Oomen Chandy who was a senior.
This time, Ramesh Chennithala is senior to Satheesan and former’s supporters are hoping for history to repeat itself.
What goes very strongly in Satheesan’s favour however is – Congress ally IUML’s open support for him. It now remains to be seen who the Congress will heed.
That said the Congress, after parting ways with the DMK, has allied with the TVK to share power in Tamil Nadu, besides securing a mandate in Kerala.
With this, the party is in power on its own in Himachal Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala and with allies in Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu.
