THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As the crucial Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting is set to be held on Thursday to elect its leader and the next chief minister of the UDF government, senior leader Ramesh Chennithala has urged the party high command not to consider individuals who have not been elected to the assembly for the top post.
The first CLP meeting of the newly elected Congress MLAs will be held at the Indira Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram at 10.30 am. AICC observers Mukul Wasnik and Ajay Maken will attend the meeting to seek the opinion of the MLAs.
The central observers will also meet all 63 elected MLAs individually before arriving at a conclusion. The CLP is likely to request the Congress president and the high command to take the final decision.
The observers will also meet leaders of the UDF constituent parties. A majority of UDF leaders and Congress MLAs have already reached Thiruvananthapuram.
The two observers reached the state capital on Wednesday evening and met veteran leader A K Antony and former KPCC presidents V M Sudheeran and M M Hassan to get their opinion. They would also talk to Mullappally Ramachandran over the phone and meet K Sudhakaran individually if the former is in the city. The observers will also meet CWC members Kodikunnil Suresh and Shashi Tharoor on the day.
Chennithala is learnt to have conveyed to the Congress central leadership that any move by the central observers to propose K C Venugopal’s name would create the impression that the AICC organisational general secretary enjoys the explicit backing of the high command. Such a perception, he is believed to have cautioned, could influence the ongoing discussions on the next chief minister.
Chennithala had told the media that he had travelled to Delhi to take part in discussions regarding developments in the Maharashtra Congress.
However, sources told TNIE that the former leader of opposition has staked his claim for the chief minister’s post. He is understood to have highlighted his experience in governance, his seniority, and the manner in which the post of leader of opposition was taken away from him in 2021 despite enjoying the support of a majority of MLAs.
Congress sources indicated that the high command would take a final decision on the chief minister after receiving the reports from the central observers.
If the observers fail to arrive at a consensus even after the CLP meeting, the high command may convene a meeting of the KPCC president, working presidents, and senior party leaders from the state.
“The final decision will be announced by the high command after the final round of meetings between Sonia Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi,” a source said.