The Congress high command on Thursday chose V D Satheesan as the next Chief Minister of Kerala , overlooking Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal and former state Leader of Opposition and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala. While Venugopal had the support of a majority of the party’s 63 MLAs, his political mentor Chennithala’s case was built on his seniority and long-standing ties with the Gandhi family. Kozhummal Chattadi Venugopal, regarded as the Congress’s key backroom strategist in Delhi , failed to make the transition from a behind-the-scenes leader to the face of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government in the state despite enjoying the support of a majority of the MLAs. On Thursday morning, both Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi met with him for two hours to convince him to back down and let Satheesan take charge of the state.…