Kerala CM selection: flex battles continue in State

As the uncertainty over the Kerala Chief Minister’s post spilled over into the weekend, there was also no respite to the ‘street battles’ among the supporters of the three senior leaders in the fray.

As Congress party leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi led a high-level meeting in New Delhi to thrash out a solution, supporters of Ramesh Chennithala, V.D. Satheesan and K.C. Venugopal persisted with taking the battle into the open with banners, flex boards and street marches backing either one or the other of the leaders.

There were reports of a ‘Sayanapradakshinam’ being conducted in Iritty and a procession in Koratty demanding that Mr. Satheesan, the Leader of Opposition for the past five years, be selected for the Chief Minister’s post.

With party workers turning unruly in some places, rows also erupted over posters and flex boards - including one with an image of former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy - getting damaged.

Meanwhile, a Facebook post by senior Congress leader K.C. Joseph also grabbed attention on Saturday. In it he said it would be better if everyone realised that breaking all limits and taking the internal matters of the Congress party out into the streets would have dangerous implications. He said he was remaining silent as it was desirable. It has pained everyone that even an image of Oommen Chandy was insulted, knowingly or unknowingly, by the protesters, he said.

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