The big announcement comes ten days after Congress-led United Democratic Front won in Kerala after ending a decade of Left rule in the state.

VD Satheesan is set to be the new chief minister of Kerala, Congress announced on Thursday, May 14, after days of anticipation, high-level discussions and deliberations.

The big announcement comes ten days after Congress-led United Democratic Front won in Kerala after ending a decade of Left rule in the state.

The announcement was made by Deepa Dasmunshi, Congress' general secretary in-charge of Kerala, during a presser in Delhi. She was accompanied by Congress leaders Ajay Maken, Mukul Wasnik, and Jairam Ramesh.

“The Congress legislature party met at Thiruvananthapuram and unanimously authorised Congress president to select the CLP leader. Congress president held extensive discussions with the Congress parliamentary party leader (Sonia Gandhi) and Leader of the Opposition (Rahul Gandhi) and many other leaders including former PCC chiefs. Based on all these discussions it has been decided that VD Satheesan has been appointed as the leader of the Congress Legislative Party," Dasmunshi announced.

The decision comes after several leaders of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) and former chiefs of Congress' Kerala unit met with party's high-command in Delhi to discuss and pick a name.

Among the three frontrunners for the top job, along with Satheesan, were KC Venugopal and Ramesh Chennithala.

After the election results were announced on May 4, other states got their new chief ministers and governments in place, while the Congress’ delay in naming its CM pick caused a stir in Kerala.

In the recently held assembly elections, he won from Kerala's Paravur constituency in Ernakulam district. He has been elected MLA multiple times in Kerala and enjoys wide local support there among the party rank as well as from key allies such as including the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and Kerala Congress (Joseph).