Strain in Cong as 2 top leaders back Chennithala for CM post

At least two senior leaders of the Congress have said that they prefer Ramesh Chennithala for the chief minister's post, indicating churn and factional proclivities within the party in the run-up to the Kerala assembly elections.

- Vishnu Varma

While former Congress state chief and Kannur MP K Sudhakaran opted for Chennithala as the next CM ina local media interview, veteran leader and former Rajya Sabha deputy chairman PJ Kurien said he did not doubt that Chennithala would covet the top post post-polls. Kurien’s remarks incidentally came in the presence of Chennithala on the dais ata UDF convention in Pathanamthitta district on Wednesday.

Chennithala, the senior-most leader in the current state Congress set up, and Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan are considered the contenders for the CM’s post if the UDF comes to power in Kerala. Though KC Venugopal’s name also did the rounds, he declined to contest the assembly polls and publicly stated that he was not in the race to become CM.