K Muraleedharan says Kerala CM decision likely tonight or Wednesday

K Muraleedharan said the Congress will announce Kerala’s chief ministerial nominee by Tuesday night or Wednesday morning after consultations led by Rahul Gandhi. Senior leaders continue deliberations as uncertainty persists despite the UDF’s sweeping Assembly election victory

New Delhi: The Kerala chief minister nominee will be announced either tonight or Wednesday morning, former state Congress chief K Muraleedharan said on Tuesday after meeting Rahul Gandhi who held one-on-one deliberations with several party leaders in a bid to end the uncertainty on the matter. The former Congress president met several party leaders from Kerala, including ex-state unit chiefs, working presidents and other key leaders, at Sonia Gandhi’s 10, Janpath residence.

“The final decision will come this evening or tomorrow morning. (Congress president Mallikarjun) Kharge ji is coming back from Bengaluru only in the evening. So after he is back, one more discussion will take place and they will talk to Madam (Sonia Gandhi) also.

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Then, the decision will come tonight or tomorrow morning,” former Kerala Pradesh Congress committee chief Muraleedharan told reporters. The three main contenders for the post of chief minister are senior leaders Ramesh Chennithala, V D Satheesan and AICC general secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal.

Among those who met Gandhi were former Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee chiefs M M Hassan, K Sudhakaran and Muraleedharan, Kerala Congress Disciplinary Committee head Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan as well as working presidents Shafi Parambil, A P Anil Kumar and P C Vishunath.

Another former state party chief, V M Sudheeran, is scheduled to meet Gandhi in the afternoon. His colleague Mullapally Ramachandran will speak to Gandhi over phone as he is unable to travel. A decision on the next Kerala chief minister has 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 is holding wider consultations as the uncertainty continues even after party observers Ajay Maken and Mukul Wasnik met Congress MLAs and gathered their views, following which the leadership held discussions with the three main contenders for the post and KPCC president Sunny Joseph.

Muraleedharan had earlier said the Kerala chief minister would not be decided merely based on the opinion of MLAs. Instead, views of the UDF partners and the general public would also be taken into consideration. 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.