Congress leader V. D. Satheesan (file photo) | Photo Credit: JAYAMOHAN A / THE HINDU

The Congress on Thursday finally announced that VD Satheesan will be the leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in Kerala and hence the next Chief Minister of the southern state.

Making the announcement in the party headquarters at Akbar Road, AICC general secretary in charge of Kerala, Deepa Dasmunshi said: “The CLP had met in Thiruvananthapuram on May 7. It had unanimously resolved to authorise the Congress president to appoint the new leader of the CLP in Kerala. Accordingly, the Congress president has held extensive discussions with the chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party, leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, the AICC observers who had met the newly-elected MLAs and many other leaders of the state. Based on all these discussions, it has been decided that VD Satheesan be appointed as leader of the CLP.

The decision was taken ten days after the Congress-led UDF emerged as the winner in the Assembly election on May 4. There was suspense till the last minute before the announcement of the decision. While a meeting of the CLP was scheduled for 1 pm in Thiruvananthapuram, there were hectic parfleys in Delhi with both Rahul Gandhi and Congress general secretary and MP from the state Priyanka Gandhi till the very end.

Party leader KC Venugopal, who has been lobbying for the top job, reached Rahul Gandhi’s residence a little after 9 am. He remained there with Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for over two hours. Other leaders, including Deepa Dasmunsi, party general secretary Mukul Wasnik, and treasurer Ajay Maken waited for top leadership to finally give their nod to proceed to the airport to board a special flight to Kerala.

Published on May 14, 2026