The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took a jibe at the Congress after it named V D Satheesan as the CM pick after a 10-day suspense, calling the party the “new Muslim League”.
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The BJP accused the Congress of bowing to pressure from the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) in choosing V D Satheesan as Kerala’s next chief minister, while also alleging that internal “infighting” within the party would make the new government “remote-controlled”.
The Congress earlier in the day announced V D Satheesan as the next Kerala chief minister, bringing to an end days of suspense and speculation over the leadership choice.
The decision was announced at a press conference in Delhi by AICC Kerala in-charge Deepa Dasmunshi and the party’s central observers for the state, Ajay Maken and Mukul Wasnik.
The three main contenders for the post were Satheesan, K C Venugopal and Ramesh Chennithala.
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BJP’s accusation Kerala’s Congress leadership
In a post on X, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said the decision had been imposed on the Kerala unit by the Congress central leadership.
“It is clear that Kerala’s chief ministerial face was decided in New Delhi and not in Kerala. The announcement was made from the AICC headquarters in Delhi, which shows that this will be a remote-controlled ‘sarkar’ (government),” he said.
The BJP leader also claimed there was disagreement within the Gandhi family over the leadership choice in Kerala.
He alleged that Satheesan was selected due to “pressure from Priyanka Gandhi” who “did not want Rahul Gandhi’s candidate K C Venugopal at any cost”.
“Priyanka Vadra was dead against Rahul Gandhi’s pick, K C Venugopal. In fact, there was a huge family fight over who would call the shots in Kerala,” he claimed.
Poonawalla further blamed internal differences and pressure from alliance partners for the Congress’s delay in announcing the new Kerala chief minister.
“After 11 days, the Congress party from Delhi has finally announced the name of V D Satheesan ji as the next Kerala chief minister. This has been done under two pressures. The Jamaat and the IUML had read the riot act to Congress. So, this is the clear influence of the Muslim vote bank,” he alleged.
Drawing parallels with the Congress government in Karnataka, the BJP spokesperson alleged that factional rivalry would continue to trouble the party in Kerala as well.
“It will be the same model as the Karnataka Congress sarkar. There it was D K Shivakumar versus Siddaramaiah. Here it will be Satheesan versus K C Venugopal versus Chennithala versus Shashi Tharoor. There will be four to five claimants, who will constantly rock the boat,” he claimed.
He said similar internal conflicts had affected Congress governments in states such as Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan.
“So, again, Kerala people will be bracing themselves for instability,” he said.
Also Read | VD Satheesan set to be new Kerala CM as Congress announces name after days of suspense
Kerala’s 10-day wait for a chief minister
A decision on the next Kerala chief minister had been pending since May 4, when the Congress-led UDF won 102 seats in the 140-member Assembly, securing more than a two-thirds majority.
BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari also alleged that decision-making in the Congress required the approval of the IUML and allied religious groups.
“It is clearly evident that the new Congress chief ministerial pick from Kerala was not the choice of the Congress MLAs but of the IUML,” he said in a post on X.
Calling the Congress the “new Muslim League”, Bhandari alleged that the Gandhi-Vadra family had once again acted according to the wishes of the IUML.
“The remote control of the Congress and the Gandhi-Vadra family is with the IUML. The Congress today is nothing short of a modern-day Muslim League. The Congress is the Muslim League-Maoist Congress,” he alleged.
The Congress has 63 MLAs in the 140-member Kerala Assembly. Among its allies, the IUML has 22 seats, Kerala Congress (KEC) has eight, and the Revolutionary Socialist Party has three MLAs.
