Congress allies Indian Union Muslim League and Kerala Congress (Joseph) have told the UDF Big Brother’s national leadership that V.D. Satheesan, the leader of the Opposition in the previous Assembly, should be the next chief minister.
However, sources said AICC general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal had the support of 45 of the Congress’s 63 MLAs in Kerala.
Satheesan’s loyalists have been holding demonstrations in the districts demanding that he be made chief minister, just like CPM leader V.S. Achuthanandan’s backers in 2006 after he was denied a party ticket to contest.
AICC observers Mukul Wasnik and Ajay Maken had a packed day at Indira Bhavan, the state Congress headquarters. They met the 63 Congress MLAs individually and also a few among the 14 party MPs to understand their choice for chief minister.
From day one, the IUML leadership had been endorsing Satheesan. Catching the Venugopal camp unawares, Kerala Congress Joseph (KCJ) chairman P.J. Joseph told the AICC observers that the chief minister has to be a sitting MLA. The demand was a direct expression of no-support for Venugopal, the Alappuzha MP. If Venugopal has to become the chief minister, two by-elections have to be held within six months.
“It’s better to avoid two by-elections, one to the Alappuzha Lok Sabha seat and another one probably to the Irikkur Assembly seat in Kannur district if Venugopal becomes the chief minister. The people of Kerala gave the mandate to the Congress-led UDF, with 102 MLAs. What sort of message is being conveyed to the same voters who helped them to come to power?” said a KCJ MLA.
The three MLAs of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) told the observers that they would accept the Congress high command’s decision. The three Independent MLAs also favoured this decision.
However, Venugopal has the support of 45 MLAs when they appeared one-to-one before the observers. While Chennithala has eight MLAs’ support, Satheesan, who led “Team UDF” in the election, has the support of only six. This has been vehemently denied by the Satheesan and Chennithala camps, which claim that they have the support of 35 and 23 MLAs, respectively.