A meeting of the newly elected Congress MLAs in Maharashtra today authorised party president Sonia Gandhi to nominate their new leader who would be the chief minister.
A one-line resolution authorising Sonia Gandhi to name the new leader was passed at the first meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) convened here to elect the leader, two days after the Congress-NCP combine stormed back to power in the crucial western state for the third time in a row.
The meeting was held in the presence of AICC observers -- Defence Minister A K Antony, who is Congress general secretary in charge of Maharashtra, Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha K Rehman Khan and senior leader Digvijay Singh.
The three leaders arrived in the city this afternoon.
The observers are now meeting the MLAs individually at party office in Vidhan Bhavan to elicit their views on the leadership issue, Congress sources said.
The Congress, with 82 seats emerged as the single largest party and its ally NCP pocketed 62 seats in the 288-member House.
The ruling coalition is all set to form the next government for the third time, with incumbent Chief Minister Ashok Chavan as frontrunner for the top post.