Congress CM Race Reaches Fever Pitch on Eve of Election Results; Special Mass Offered at Parumala Church for Chennithala

Thiruvananthapuram: The Congress party's internal battle over the Chief Minister's post has reached a new level of intensity on the eve of counting day, with flex boards for V D Satheesan going up across the state while a Youth Congress leader has offered a special Holy Mass at Parumala church praying for Ramesh Chennithala to become Chief Minister.

Youth Congress Pallippadu Mandalam President Sijo Kunjandu sponsored the special Mass at Parumala church with the explicit intention of seeing Chennithala become Kerala's Chief Minister. "I offered the Holy Mass wishing to see Ramesh Chennithala as the Chief Minister of Kerala," he said.

Meanwhile, Satheesan's supporters have put up flex boards in Pathanamthitta describing him as "Kerala's Chief Minister-designate — the prince of principled politics," and large flex boards promoting Satheesan also appeared overnight near Thodupuzha Pattayamkavala.

The KPCC had earlier issued warnings against such public displays of factional rivalry, but leaders on both sides have simply ignored the directive and intensified their campaigns. The spectacle of Congress leaders fighting over ministerial chairs — through temple offerings, church masses, and giant hoardings — even before a single vote has been counted has drawn widespread ridicule and criticism both within and outside the party.