KOCHI: The mobile phone barely stops ringing at the Paravur home of Congress leader V D Satheesan. Even as the Congress high command in Delhi prolongs its decision on Kerala’s next chief minister, Satheesan, one of the three principal contenders for the post, is spending his days fielding an endless stream of phone calls, meeting supporters and well-wishers arriving from across the state, and slowly returning to a routine interrupted by months of political battle.

“Most of the time is spent on taking phone calls,” Satheesan says with a chuckle. Since returning from Delhi early on Sunday after hectic rounds of discussions and negotiations, Satheesan has found little time for himself. Visitors begin arriving at his house as early as 5:30 a.m. Party workers, local leaders, supporters and admirers troop in through the day, many eager to congratulate the man widely credited with scripting the Congress-led UDF’s emphatic electoral comeback.

Despite being at the center of the intense suspense over the chief minister’s post, Satheesan is maintaining a studied calm. “The high command perhaps wants wider consultations,” he told The New Indian Express, carefully avoiding any public display of anxiety or impatience over the delay.

For now, he appears content retreating into familiar comforts in his constituency — attending family functions and marriages, catching up with visitors, and, importantly, returning to books. A voracious reader whose routine was derailed during the grueling election campaign and subsequent power talks, Satheesan says he has finally resumed reading. The book currently on his table is *Buildit: Building Blinkit in an Evolving India* by Albinder Singh Dhindsa, founder of the quick-commerce company Blinkit. “It looks like an amazing read,” he says.

The relative quiet at Paravur marks a striking contrast to the turbulent political journey that brought Satheesan to this moment. In May 2021, after the Congress was reduced to just 21 seats and suffered a second consecutive assembly election defeat, the party leadership handed him the task of rebuilding the organization as Leader of Opposition.

Five years later, with the Congress returning to power with one of its biggest-ever victories in Kerala, Satheesan has emerged as a serious claimant to the CM post alongside All India Congress Committee general secretary K C Venugopal and veteran leader Ramesh Chennithala. Venugopal is believed to have the backing of a substantial section of MLAs, while Chennithala continues to make his case, citing his seniority.

Amid the tug-of-war in Delhi, Satheesan has chosen restraint. “I have the satisfaction of having completed the job entrusted to me by the high command. For me, that is what matters,” he says. And so, at Paravur, between the ringing phone, the steady stream of visitors and the pages of a newly opened book, Satheesan waits.