Posters appeared at the Wayanad District Congress Committee office in Kerala on Wednesday warning Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra of repercussions if they support senior leader KC Venugopal for the chief minister’s post.
Venugopal received the support of six of the nine party leaders who attended Tuesday’s Congress meeting on the selection of United Democratic Front (UDF) chief, while two leaders – K Muralidharan and VM Sudheeran – supported VD Satheesan, with one remaining neutral.
Ramesh Chimithala, Congress leader and MLA from Haripad, is the other contender for the post. While Venugopal has the support of a majority of elected Congress members, Sathisan enjoys widespread support among the party’s grassroots and key allies like the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and the Kerala Congress (Joseph). Follow the latest updates on the Kerala CM announcement here
Posters appeared outside the District Congress Committee office in Wayanad and Vadra MP’s office in Mokkam in Kozhikode. Vadra is the Member of Parliament from Wayanad while Gandhi served as the MP from the constituency between 2019 and 2024.
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“Mr Rahul, KC may be your bag holder, but the people of Kerala will never forgive you,” one poster read.
Another said: “Wayanad will be the next Amethi.” A third said: “RG and PG, Kerala will never forgive you for this blunder.”
CCTV images showed a person placing the posters at around 3am on Wednesday. The person’s face is blurred. Local congressional workers launched a search to identify the person.
There is speculation that it is the work of an activist from a different party.
In Vadanapalli area of Thrissur district, a flex board put up against Venugopal outside the local panchayat office was identified as the handiwork of a CPI(M) activist, who admitted the same in an internal party WhatsApp group.
The Congress-led United Democratic Front returned to power in Kerala with a decisive mandate last week, winning 102 of the 140 assembly seats. The number of seats for the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) has been reduced to 35 seats.
In the days following the May 4 Lok Sabha election results, Kerala witnessed widespread protests by Congress workers and activists demanding that the state’s top job go to Sathisean, who has served as opposition leader for the past five years.
The All India Congress Committee (AICC) including Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul were disturbed by the public protests and asked the state Congress unit to prevent such incidents.
The decision on the position of prime minister is expected to be issued on Wednesday.
