Kerala CM announcement LIVE: Kerala likely to get its new CM today; Congress to hold CLP meeting at KPCC HQ

KErala CM promulgation unrecorded updates: The u.s. Congress law-makers company (CLP) meeting is scheduled to be held at the KPCC headquarters on Thursday afternoon to elect its legislative leader, as the party moves towards announcing its chief ministerial candidate for Kerala.While all three other states and the Union territory of Puducherry that went to polls together now have new chief ministers, Kerala is yet to know its next CM with Congress failing to announce its pick for the post even after nearly 10 days of the declaration of results.CLP meeting on May 14According to a statement issued on Wednesday by KPCC chief Sunny Joseph, the CLP meeting will take place at 1 pm on May 14.The announcement comes as the Congress high command indicated that the suspense over Kerala’s next Chief Minister is expected to end on Thursday, nearly 10 days after the Assembly election results were declared.Who backs who in Kerala chief minister raceKerala Congress leaders VD Satheesan, KC Venugopal and Ramesh Chennithala are said to be in the running for the post of chief minister.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), as reported in an earlier HT report.In a key meeting on selecting the United Democratic Front (UDF) CM on Tuesday, Venugopal was backed by six of the nine party leaders , while two leaders-- K Muralidharan and VM Sudheeran-- supported VD Satheesan, and one remained neutral.Kerala government news | Key points-Following a meeting between Rahul Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge at the latter’s residence in New Delhi, party general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the leadership had completed discussions on the matter.-“As authorised by the members of the CLP in Kerala, the Congress high command has completed all discussions, and the decision on who the next Chief Minister of Kerala will be will be announced tomorrow,” Ramesh told reporters.-The Congress-led UDF secured a more than two-thirds majority in the Kerala Assembly elections, but the party has since been engaged in prolonged consultations over the leadership issue amid lobbying by different camps and protests by workers at the grassroots level.-AICC general secretary K C Venugopal, Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing Kerala Assembly V D Satheesan, and senior party leader Ramesh Chennithala are among the prominent names being considered for the post.-Rahul Gandhi has held separate discussions with several Kerala leaders and former state Congress chiefs in recent days to assess the political situation before the high command moves towards a final decision.