The drama, covert lobbying, and political intrigue devouring the Congress’ selection process for its next Chief Minister showed scarce signs of abating ahead of a crucial meeting of the party’s MLA designates at Indira Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday.
Ahead of the meeting wherein All India Congress Committee (AICC) observers Mukul Vasnik and Ajay Makkan will individually hear members of the Congress Legislative Party in Kerala, jockeying by seemingly anonymous groups for the party’s “competing” Chief Minister probables seemed to reach its zenith on Wednesday.
For one, in an open letter to Rahul Gandhi, a nameless group under the banner of ”Concerned Citizens of Kerala” argued that Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan was the architect of the United Democratic Front’s (UDF) historic win and hence the Chief Minister’s mantle should fall on him naturally.
The letter claimed reports that AICC general secretary K.C. Venugopal had staked a strong claim to the post despite not having contested in the Assembly elections had “disturbed Congress workers and democratic minds” in Kerala.
The faction fighters also sought to draw a fine distinction between Mr. Venugopal’s role as an “election manager” and Mr. Satheesan’s “political leadership”, which, according to the group, manifested as the “human face of the UDF’s resistance that bore the hopes of the campaign.”
