Kerala: Marathon Congress meeting ends without breakthrough as impasse over CM face continues

Even days after the Congress-led UDF stormed back to power in Kerala, the suspense over the new chief minister continued on Saturday, with a marathon meeting of state leaders with the party high command ending without any breakthrough.

The delay has already sparked intense lobbying within the Congress, with supporters of top contenders – VD Satheeshan, Ramesh Chennithala and KC Venugopal – carrying out demonstrations in support of their preferred candidates.

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With growing signs of infighting and unrest within the state unit of the party, Congress central leadership today held a marathon meeting with state leaders to discuss the issue.

However, the meeting ended without any significant breakthrough, with party leader Deepa Dasmunshi telling reporters that a final decision from the high command is expected to come soon.

Dasmunshi said that Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi have spoken to the state unit leaders and offered their guidance.

“Today, from 4 pm till now, we had a long discussion…Each of us spoke to party president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi. Individually also we spoke and they have given their guidance,” she told reporters.

Referring to the protests by Congress workers, she urged party workers to stop their demonstrations, “For last 2-3 days, there was some overenthusiastic workers and some unruly incident happened in Kerala. People have given us a landslide majority, and those unruly incidents are not our Congress culture.”

She further expressed optimism that a final decision from the high command is expected soon.

“Very soon, I think in due time we will get the final decision by our high command, and we are waiting for that,” she added.