Posters targeting Rahul, Priyanka surface in Kerala amid deadlock over CM pick

POsters appeared at Wayanad territory us congress citizens committee power in Kerala on midweek warning Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra of the repercussions if they back senior leader KC Venugopal for chief minister’s post.Venugopal was backed by six of the nine party leaders who attended a Congress meeting on Tuesday on selecting the United Democratic Front (UDF) CM, while two leaders-- K Muralidharan and VM Sudheeran-- supported VD Satheesan, and one remained neutral.Ramesh Chemmithala, Congress leader and MLA from Haripad, is the other contender for the post. While Venugopal has the backing of the majority of the elected Congress MLAs, Satheesan has wide support among the party rank and file and key allies like the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and Kerala Congress (Joseph).The posters appeared outside the district Congress committee office in Wayanad and Vadra’s MP office in Mukkam in Kozhikode. Vadra is the Congress MP from Wayanad while Gandhi served as the MP from the constituency between 2019 and 2024.Also Read:Rahul meets senior Cong leaders from Kerala; decision on CM set to come todayOne of the posters said, “Mr Rahul, KC might be your bag bearer, but people of Kerala will never forgive you.”Another said, “Wayanad will be next Amethi.” A third one said, “RG and PG, Kerala will never forgive you for this blunder.”CCTV visuals showed a person putting up the posters around 3am on Wednesday. The person’s face is unclear. Local Congress workers have launched a search to identify the person.There are speculations of it being a handiwork of an activist from a different party.In Thrissur district’s Vadanappally, a flex board put up against Venugopal outside the local panchayat office was identified as the handiwork of a CPI(M) activist, who admitted to the same in an internal WhatsApp group of the party.The Congress-led UDF returned to power in Kerala with a decisive mandate last week, winning 102 of the 140 assembly seats. The incumbent CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) was reduced to 35 seats.In the days following the results of the assembly elections on May 4, Kerala witnessed large-scale protests by Congress workers and activists demanding that the top post in the state go to Satheesan, who served as leader of opposition over the last five years.The All-India Congress Committee (AICC) including Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul, were miffed with the public protests and asked the state Congress unit to prevent such incidents.The decision on the CM’s post is expected on Wednesday.