Decision on Kerala CM in ‘due course’, says Cong leadership

New Delhi: Amid a strong claim of opposition leader V D Satheesan to the chief minister's post, Congress brass Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi on Saturday brainstormed the selection of the next leader in the state, while hearing out the three aspirants including K C Venugopal and Ramesh Chennithala. The party also lashed out at the protest marches and social media campaign taken out by factional supporters, widely viewed as a reference to the actions of the Satheesan camp targeting Venugopal.The crucial meeting included AICC observers Ajay Maken and Mukul Wasnik and state president Sunny Joseph. AICC state in-charge Deepa Dasmunshi said, "A decision will be taken in due course."Though Congress-led UDF has won Kerala by a landslide, hard bargaining by Satheesan and Venugopal for the top post has created suspense over the last few days. Satheesan — who as the leader of opposition was the face of the party for the last five years — has been vocal in his claim to the CM's post and a general atmosphere in the state, too, exists in his favour. Congress's partners in UDF too are strongly backing Satheesan whom they credit for leading the battle against the Left front govt.While Maken and Wasnik, who met the state legislators on Thursday, found that an overwhelming bloc of newly-elected MLAs support Rahul Gandhi confidant Venugopal, they are also said to have spoken about factoring in the "public sentiment". They briefed Kharge and Rahul first, before the top duo met the CM claimants separately.Sources said the party does not want to displease any of the leaders who are left out and is keen to reach a consensus. "Else the decision would have been announced by now," a source said. Importantly, Sonia Gandhi was also consulted by Kharge and Rahul.All the candidates are learnt to have pressed their claim to Kharge and Rahul in one-on-one meetings, which were part of the over three-hour discussion held at the former's residence.In the meeting, the top duo is learnt to have pulled up the state leaders for taking out social media campaigns to mount pressure on the leadership in their favour.