After prolonged infighting and uncertainty that mocked the public mandate, the Congress finally picked V D Satheesan as its leader in the Kerala Assembly. He took oath as the chief minister on May 18, two weeks after the Assembly election results were announced. Leveraging intense pressure from allies including the Muslim League and support from senior leaders, Satheesan secured the chief minister’s chair by outmaneuvering K C Venugopal and Ramesh Chennithala. Following three hours of deliberations on May 14 to pacify Venugopal, the Congress general secretary in charge of Kerala, Deepa Dasmunshi, officially announced Satheesan’s appointment at a press conference held at the party headquarters in New Delhi. Venugopal, who was left disappointed after his calculations — relying on the support of the majority of MLAs and his proximity to the leadership — failed entirely, did not hide his displeasure. “I am not someone who joined the party yesterday. I haven’t tried to build an image above the party. I will endure the planned moves and smear campaigns against me,” Venugopal said.

When asked by the media about having the majority support of the MLAs, he snapped back, saying that it didn’t matter. To the question of whether he would resign from the post of general secretary (organisation), he retorted, “I can vacate that too, if needed.” It took Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra nearly three hours on Thursday morning to pacify Venugopal. During the discussion, the leadership conveyed that they preferred Venugopal to remain in Delhi. Rahul pointed out that the allies, including the Muslim League, strongly supported Satheesan. He emphasised that sidelining Satheesan would lead to a massive revolt within the party and the front — a crisis the Congress currently lacks the strength to handle. The leadership urged Venugopal to make a sacrifice for the sake of the party, calling for his “broadmindedness and political maturity.” Once Venugopal stepped back, the Congress leadership contacted the League to confirm that Satheesan would indeed be the chief minister. Rahul and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also informed Ramesh Chennithala of the decision. Chennithala openly expressed his strong protest and dissatisfaction over him being ignored despite his seniority.

Congress sources state that the pressure from the Muslim League and the backing of senior leaders like A K Antony, V M Sudheeran, and K Muraleedharan worked in Satheesan’s favour. The League had maintained from the beginning that Satheesan should be the chief minister. Despite multiple attempts by the Congress leadership to sway them, the League responded that there was “not an atom of change” in their stance. Also, Satheesan succeeded in creating a perception through strategic moves that public sentiment was with him. Ultimately, after 11 days of complex political calculations, the Congress leadership extricated itself from a humiliating crisis by appointing Satheesan as the leader.