More than a week after the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) won a decisive victory in the Kerala Assembly elections, the party high command had still not named the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader who will become the next chief minister, prompting fresh consultations in Delhi and mounting pressure as the current Assembly’s term nears expiry. The election results were declared on May 4; as of May 11 the Congress leadership had not announced its choice.
In the latest round of meetings, the Congress high command summoned several senior Kerala leaders to the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters in New Delhi for consultations on government formation and the chief ministerial pick. Senior leader and MLA-elect K. Muraleedharan, a former KPCC president, was asked to reach AICC headquarters on Tuesday; he told reporters that a decision on the Kerala chief minister was expected within the next 48 hours.
Alongside Muraleedharan, KPCC vice-presidents A.P. Anil Kumar, Shafi Parambil and P.C. Vishnunadh, and senior leader Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan were also called to Delhi. Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge cut short a visit to Bengaluru and returned to the capital to attend the meetings with Kerala leaders, underscoring the high command’s hands-on role in the selection process.
The drawn-out decision has intensified debate within the party and among UDF allies even after the alliance secured 102 of the 140 Assembly seats-crossing the two-thirds mark. Within the UDF, Congress won 63 seats, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) 22, Kerala Congress (KEC) eight and the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) three, making allied views important in final power-sharing talks.
The chief ministerial contest is focused on three senior Congress figures: Ramesh Chennithala, AICC general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal and Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan. The high command held detailed discussions with all three in New Delhi, with sources saying a majority of Congress MLAs appear to back Venugopal while Satheesan is the more popular public choice.
Defending the delay, Ramesh Chennithala described the pause as part of the party’s democratic exercise and urged workers to accept the high command’s decision. “We have conveyed whatever we had to say to the high command. They have heard everything. The rest is for them to decide,” he said after returning from New Delhi.
Following the Saturday meetings, Kerala Congress leaders and AICC in-charge Deepa Dasmunsi jointly appealed to party workers not to stage protests or put up flex boards backing individual contenders, seeking to keep the selection process orderly as the May 23 expiry of the current Assembly term approaches.
Original Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/elections/assembly/story/kerala-chief-minister-decision-congress-delhi-talks-after-udf-win-2910013-2026-05-11
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Publish Date: 2026-05-11 22:25:00
