Late-night talks, allies’ backing: How Satheesan emerged as Kerala CM choice

New Delhi: After Rahul Gandhi met former KPCC chiefs and senior leaders on Tuesday afternoon, one crucial cog of the party alumni saw him late at 10pm at 10, Janpath. A known voice in favour of V D Satheesan, V M Sudheeran was the last man the Gandhi scion is learnt to have heard as part of enlarged consultations to arrive at the CM pick.

Also read: Who is VD Satheesan? Kerala’s new CM & grassroots Congress leader who led the UDF’s comeback



Hours later on Wednesday, Sudheeran publicly stressed the need to decide the CM in sync with "public sentiments". A few hours further down, Rahul held his final consultation with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge where the decision was finalised, though kept under wraps.



In the final lap, sources said, K C Venugopal lost out. The Kharge-Rahul chat eliminated the powerful AICC manager and Rahul confidant. And barely had any time passed that he too was said to have realised the disappointing turn of events - the first but fatal blow since Venugopal entered the race after maximum MLAs backed him in front of AICC observers on May 7.

But his elimination hadn't necessarily sealed the deal that could be conveyed down the ranks. Here, Ramesh Chennithala, who was always the "compromise" pole of the three-way race, remained a possibility. All eyes were on Thursday morning when the decision was to be made public.

At 10am, Rahul called Venugopal for a chat at his Sunehri Bagh residence, and they were closeted for over one hour, which included Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. There, the confidant was apparently told about the "decision making process" - a shorthand for factors that had resulted in picking Satheesan ahead of him.

The deal, however, was still limited to the charmed circle. Even party managers who were to go to Kerala did not know if it was going to be Satheesan or Chennithala.

A half an hour later, Kharge called a meeting of AICC state in-charge Deepa Dasmunshi and state observers Ajay Maken and Mukul Wasnik. There, the final plan was unveiled and passed for public dissemination.

Venugopal was out. But it was a straight leap at the generational makeover of the state leadership. There would be no midway, "compromise" candidate in Chennithala. Calls apparently went out to mollify the veteran.

A news conference was scheduled for half an hour later, at 12pm. And there, Maken, Dasmunshi, Wasnik and Jairam Ramesh announced it was Satheesan.

"Public sentiment" became the battle cry of the pro-Satheesan brigade of partisans and commoners as the lobbying for CMship played out in the streets and on social media over nine days. The same argument was made by allies IUML, RSP and Kerala Congress, who questioned the sole reliance on support of MLAs. Rahul and Priyanka were flooded with emails, with even references to the latter's LS seat of Wayanad that has a robust IUML votebase. The all-round momentum for Satheesan could not be ignored.

And when Rahul, instead of closing the consultations, decided to pick the minds of more state colleagues, Satheesan was clearly in serious reckoning. The push from Sudheeran, K Muraleedharan, and, by some insider accounts, veteran AK Antony and Priyanka, turned the tide.