Narayan Rane, the rebel revenue minister of Maharashtra who has threatened to quit the Congress, has been told by the party’s top leadership to wait for a few more days.
Although the party is trying its best not to lose him, no indication has been given that he will be promoted as chief minister in place of Vilasrao Deshmukh.
According to sources close to Rane, he is keen to occupy the post. He was earlier offered the chairmanship of the campaign committee for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls. A day after storming out of the state cabinet meeting in protest against the decision to allot a Navi Mumbai plot to Videocon at a subsidised rate, Rane flew down to the capital today to meet the party’s central leadership. In the evening, he met Congress leaders Pranab Mukherjee, Ahmed Patel and Margaret Alva.
Sources said he reiterated his stand to quit the party. “No decision can be taken until the Congress president returns from Beijing,” said Alva, the party general secretary in charge of Maharashtra.
