When a senior Congress leader landed in Delhi to meet with Rahul Gandhi to resolve the Chief Minister deadlock in Kerala, he sensed the scales had already tipped in favour of K C Venugopal.

He had the numbers - the support of MLAs- which had been the norm of the Congress to become the Chief Minister. It seemed like V D Satheesan was to be the tragic hero in a tumultuous political drama.

Rahul Gandhi was willing to wait it out. What was initially meant to be settled based on a report by two observers became an elaborate corporate exercise.

One of the leaders sat with Rahul Gandhi for 45 minutes alone in a room. By then, theories had floated that Satheesan had engineered the wave of protests across the state. The leadership was told that it was not possible for any leader to stir up sentiments of such magnitude overnight.

“In a politically aware state like Kerala, any decision based on miscalculation of public mood, will not go unaccounted for. The AICC listened to us. A bad decision would have been construed as a gross sense of injustice,” one of the leaders said.

The scale of support was, in a way, unprecedented. People had taken to the streets to give a seat to the CPM leader V S Achuthanandan in 2006. But for the first time in Kerala’s political history, a majority of Congress workers and people openly vouched for one man and declared that any choice other than Satheesan would have consequences.

Rahul Gandhi was willing to take in more feed from the ground, sources who were privy to his sessions with various leaders from Kerala told Onmanorama. His trusted network relayed the same sentiments.

According to sources, Priyanka Gandhi also broached the Muslim League factor and the support the party has offered to the Congress, not just in the Assembly polls 2026 but also in the General elections in Wayanad.

Once the League rallied behind Satheesan, its leaders showed a calm restraint which symbolised a sense of assurance. At this point, the number stack, carefully built by Venugopal began to rattle. Satheesan blended populism with prophecy to sweep elections at will in Kerala. As for Venugopal, repeated failures in various state elections under his watch became glaring.

As the AICC General Secretary (Organisation), Venugopal emulated late Congress leader Ahmed Patel. If Sonia Gandhi had found his confidant in Patel, Rahul Gandhi found his in Venugopal. His stake for the Chief Minister post was not something that could have been easily denied though it appeared unfair. He chose the candidates, funded them and dissonance in seat distribution was nipped in the bud.

In the early days of campaign, Venugopal could be seen embracing Congress workers who had threatened to be rebels. On reels that went around, Venugopal sipped tea in wayside shops, chatted with people.

He didn’t have Oommen Chandy’s magnetism, Karunakaran’s appealing mischief or Satheesan’s rhetorical flourish, but he made up for that with his unmatched access to power, which he had built over the years.

In his political career, Venugopal had become almost everything a politician aspires for- an MLA, a Minister, MP in both houses and he called the shots at the power echelons.

When he wanted to break rules in the game after the UDF’s victory in Kerala assembly polls, the party thought he held a clear sway over MLAs and MPs and could manoeuvre centre-state relations.

Satheesan was in no mood to back down though. This fiery face-off virtually shut down Ramesh Chennithala’s prospects. Chennithala was supposed to be the compromise formula for Congress, but neither Satheesan nor Venugopal ceded ground.

“Even till last days of talks, both of them held their ground. Eventually crucial inputs from leaders whom Rahul Gandhi trusts, Priyanka Gandhi’s inputs and mood gauged from the ground turned it around for Satheesan,” a source said.