AA Edit | Don’t Delay Kerala CM Further

The delay the Congress high command causes in the selection of the leader of the legislature party in Kerala is inexcusable and inordinate; the party must find one who will be the next chief minister of the state.

The state has been waiting for the installation of a popular government for more than a week now, after the results of the Assembly election were declared on May 4, for reasons no one knows. There is no ambiguity about the people’s verdict: it is against the LDF, which sought a third consecutive term and in favour of the UDF, which got a thumping, unprecedented majority of 102 seats in a 140-member Assembly.

The Congress claims that it has a process to find the legislature party leader: the high command will announce the name, considering several factors which also include the opinions of the party’s elected legislators. That process is long over. The party has also sought the opinion of the leaders of the alliance partners, too, this time around. The ball is in the court of the national leadership for sure.

It is a fact that all three leaders vying with one another have solid claims. AICC general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal is reportedly the choice of the majority of the legislators, thanks to his long innings in the state’s politics and the role he continues to play there; CWC member and former leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala is the most experienced in terms of parliamentary and organisational work and the senior to all the other contenders; and the leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan is widely believed by the party cadres and even the general public as the architect of the UDF’s landslide victory.

It will be a tough choice for the leadership to come up with a scale to measure them all. But the party needs to take a decision as the people’s patience is wearing thin. Leadership, after all, is about taking the right decisions at the right time.