New Delhi, May 14:
The Congress on Thursday named VD Satheesan as the next chief minister of Kerala, ending days of suspense and speculation over the matter.
The decision was announced here at a press conference by AICC in-charge of Kerala Deepa Dasmunshi and the party’s central observers for the state Ajay Maken and Mukul Wasnik.
The three main contenders for the post of chief minister were Satheesan, KC Venugopal and Ramesh Chennithala.
The announcement came a day after former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for about 40 minutes, after which the Congress stated that all deliberations and discussions by the high command are complete.
A decision on the next Kerala chief minister had been pending since May 4 when the Congress-led UDF bagged 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 KPCC president 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.