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Congress
seeks new Maharashtra chief minister
Tuesday November 09, 2010 07:49:37 PM,
IANS
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New Delhi/Mumbai:
The Congress was in the hunt Tuesday for a new chief minister of
Maharashtra after a disgraced Ashok Chavan stepped down over his
involvement in a housing scandal.
With Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A.K.
Antony leaving for Mumbai to consult Congress legislators,
Congress sources said a decision would be taken by end of
Wednesday.
They said Mukherjee and Antony, who is in charge of Maharashtra in
the Congress, will meet the legislators in Mumbai to ascertain
their views on the choice of the next chief minister.
"A decision is expected by tomorrow," a senior Congress leader
told IANS
Though no clear indications are available on Chavan's successor,
several names are doing the rounds.
These include union Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, Minister of
State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Prithviraj Chavan and
prominent Maharashtra leaders like Narayan Rane, Balasaheb Thorat
and Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, the sources said.
Mukherjee and Antony attended a meeting at the residence of
Congress president Sonia Gandhi Tuesday evening to decide the
party's strategy for the winter session of parliament.
The opposition has come down hard on the Congress and its
government over corruption allegations involving Chavan and
Congress leader Suresh Kalmadi, who is under a cloud over shoddy
work and misappropriation of Commonwealth Games funds.
Mukherjee and Antony were earlier asked by Gandhi to look into
Chavan's role in the Adarsh Housing Society. Its flats were given
away to politicians, bureaucrats and military officers though they
were meant for families of soldiers killed in the Kargil war with
Pakistan.
Chavan was told by the party to step down, soon after US President
Obama left India at the end of a four-day visit.
He submitted his resignation to Maharashtra Governor K.
Sankaranarayanan, who asked him to continue till a successor was
appointed.
"Pending inquiry, his offer of resignation has been accepted,"
Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi told IANS in the
national capital.
Chavan offered to quit Oct 30 when he met Sonia Gandhi after the
scandal erupted. One of those who has acquired a flat is said to
be Chavan's mother-in-law.
Chavan, however, claimed he was innocent. He said in Mumbai:
"Everything will come out in the open after the inquiry. My
innocence will be proved… I still enjoy the confidence of my
leader (Gandhi)."
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