Vilasrao out, Cong to name successor

NEW DELHI/ MUMBAI: After three days of speculation, the Congress on Wednesday asked chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh to step down, making him the third political casualty in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attack — after Shivraj Patil and RR Patil.

Confirming the news, defence minister AK Antony, who is in charge of the party’s state affairs, said, “Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh’s resignation has been accepted. He has been told to step down.”

The Congress legislature party (CLP) will meet in Mumbai on Thursday where Antony and foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee will hold discussions to decide who will be the next chief minister. In addition to Sushilkumar Shinde, the name of Narayan Rane was also doing the rounds on Wednesday night as a possible successor to Deshmukh.

Sonia Gandhi held a meeting at 10 Janpath late on Wednesday with Antony, Mukherjee and AICC general secretary Ahmed Patel to discuss the leadership issue in Maharashtra. Sensing the public anger in the wake of the audacious terror attack in Mumbai, the central leadership decided to drop Deshmukh in a day marked by hectic lobbying from both pro- and anti-Deshmukh camps in New Delhi.

NCP chief and Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar also held discussions with Antony earlier in the day.

The dilemma before the Congress is to find a candidate acceptable to NCP. The infighting within the state unit of the party is also adding to the delay in naming the new
chief minister.