NEW DELHI: Maharastra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has been asked to step down, following the Mumbai terrorist attacks. The decision to this effect was taken in a meeting today held at 10, Janpath, after Congress president Sonia Gandhi returned from her election tour in Jammu. Those, who attended the meetings included the Congress president’s political adviser Ahmed Patel, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A K Antony.
Deshmukh had put in his papers, following pressure at the CWC meeting over the weekend.
After the meeting late this evening, Antony, who is in-charge of party affairs in Maharashtra, told media persons that he, along with Pranab Mukherjee, would be going to Mumbai on Thursday to select the successor to Deshmukh.
Former Chief Minister Narayan Rane, State Industry Minister Ashok Chavan, Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and Union Minister of State in PMO Prithviraj Chavan are the contenders for the chief minister’s post.
Being a coalition government, the Congress High Command was forced to consult the NCP on the chief ministerial candidate. AICC general decretary Rahul Gandhi had shown his preference for Prithviraj Chavan, while the NCP was backing Shinde.
Besides his failure to prevent the Mumbai attacks, the Congress leadership was angry with Deshmukh over the recent controversy where he had taken film-maker Ram Gopal Verma to the Taj Hotel in Mumbai, along with his cine-star son Ritesh Deshmukh, in the aftermath of the attacks.
According to sources in Maharashtra Congress, the final straw in removing Deshmukh came from Antony who was opposed to giving him a second chance after the failure in combating the terrorists attacks in Mumbai.
“Antony had summoned Vilasrao several times in the last week and had asked him to explain the reasons for the lapses due to which the terrorists could enter the city and commit such heinous crimes, especially when the intelligence had warned of such attacks. Deshmukh had no answers and simply submitted his resignation,” said a senior Congress leader said.
