Final decision on Kerala CM turns into political cliff-hanger as ball now in Congress High Command’s court

The decision on Congress’ Chief Minister in Kerala seemed to assume the contours of a political cliff-hanger on Friday (May 8, 2026). The question of who among the purported three Chief Minister probables – Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary K.C. Venugopal, and senior leader Ramesh Chennithala – would make the cut appeared set to go down to the wire, with party High Command reportedly scheduled to make the pivotal announcement on Sunday. 

Mr. Satheesan, Mr. Chennithala and Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Sunny Joseph were bound for Delhi, reportedly for a penultimate round of discussions with the party’s High Command on Saturday. 

Meanwhile, the accidental disclosure of a part of a document purportedly showing a list of “yes” votes from elected Congress MLAs supposedly backing Mr Venugopal, published in a newspaper on Friday, caused political embarrassment, prompting AICC observers Mukul Wasnik and Ajay Maken to deny the “record’s legitimacy”. 

Notably, Mr. Joseph, who, as per the “questionable” document surreptitiously captured by a lensman, appeared to back Mr. Venugopal, stated somewhat enigmatically to reporters that “numbers meant everything in parliamentary politics”. His statement assumed some significance against the backdrop of reports that a majority of Congress’ MLA designates had backed Mr Venugopal for the “top post”. Notably, Sandeep Varier, another MLA designate whose name was on the “yes sayer’s list”, did not deny that he had backed Mr Venugopal. The “list” seemed to hold a mirror up to the allegedly raging power struggles and turmoil in Congress over the Chief Minister’s post. 

For one, the party’s MLA-designate from Uduma in Kasaragod, N. Neelakantan, emailed AICC’s observers that they had “erroneously” recorded his “definite choice” for the Chief Minister’s post as “neutral” in the “list”. Mr Neelakantan’s complaint triggered social media insinuations by Congress’ “faction fighters” that attempts were afoot to stack the odds in Mr. Venugopal’s favour by disregarding “naysayers”. 

Allies express apprehension

Notably, UDF allies have repeatedly expressed apprehensions that the “vexatious” selection process would carve up the Congress and, by extension, the alliance, rendering the tight-knit leadership team that delivered the historical electoral win divided profoundly. 

Mr. Satheesan, Mr. Venugopal and Mr. Chennithala are at different points in their long political career. A KPCC insider said that the High Command had reportedly summoned the three leaders to Delhi, possibly to “work out a deal to avert an acrimonious leadership race that might have implications for the next UDF government”. 

Meanwhile, the poster war between the supporters of the three leaders seemed to be spiralling out of control, with scores of new, competing hoardings appearing across Kerala.