Ending days of suspense over the chief ministerial face in Kerala, the Congress on Thursday announced senior leader V D Satheesan as the next Chief Minister, nearly 10 days after the UDF’s victory in the Assembly elections results declared on May 4.The announcement was made after a series of meetings held by the Congress leadership in New Delhi over the past few days amid intense internal consultations and lobbying within the Kerala unit.Senior Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Ajay Maken, Mukul Wasnik and Kerala in-charge Deepa Dasmunshi addressed a press conference to formally announce the decision.Dasmunshi said the Congress leadership, including party president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and AICC observers, held extensive deliberations before arriving at a consensus on Satheesan’s name.The Congress had appointed Maken and Wasnik as central observers, who met Kerala MLAs and senior party leaders before submitting their report to the high command on the leadership question.The decision came after multiple rounds of discussions within the party’s top leadership. Rahul Gandhi had on Tuesday met former Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee chiefs and senior state leaders in Delhi as the party attempted to break the deadlock over the CM face amid competing claims from different camps within the state unit.A separate meeting between Kharge and Rahul Gandhi was also held on Wednesday as the leadership worked to finalise the decision.Satheesan, who served as the Leader of Opposition in Kerala, was among the key contenders for the post along with Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal.Sources had earlier indicated that Venugopal enjoyed considerable backing from sections of the party leadership and senior state leaders. However, the Congress leadership was also understood to be weighing the organisational implications of shifting one of Rahul Gandhi’s closest aides from Delhi at a time when the party is preparing its national political strategy ahead of the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.Senior leader Ramesh Chennithala, who was initially seen as another strong claimant for the post, was also discussed internally as a possible consensus option if factional differences deepened further.