Uncertainty continued to loom over the Congress’s Chief Minister pick for Kerala, with the party’s high command yet to take a final call following marathon discussions with the State leadership in New Delhi on Saturday (May, 9, 2026).
The delay has raised questions about whether the All India Congress Committee’s (AICC) attempt to reach a middle ground between opposing factions has flatlined, at least temporarily.
In Kerala, nearly half of Congress’ MLA-elects are young faces
Senior Congress leaders in Kerala said that the outcome of Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi’s closed-door talks with Leader of the Opposition V. D. Satheesan and senior leader Ramesh Chennithala — the two top contenders for the top post — remained unclear as of Sunday (May 10). AICC general secretary K. C. Venugopal and Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Sunny Joseph, the MLA-designate, were also part of the discussions.
Party leaders claimed the KPCC was yet to receive any definitive word from the high command on the contentious Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leadership question, except a stringent direction to reduce public posturing and social media sabre-rattling over what has emerged as an acrimonious three-way leadership tussle.
