After the removal of top guns in the central government, the Congress party is all set to replace Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh with Union Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde. Sources said this move was planned at the core committee meeting of the Congress last night.
The opposition combine of BJP-Shiv Sena has mounted pressure on the Congress-led government demanding resignation of both Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Home Minister RR Patil.
A senior Congress leader from western Maharashtra, who is a chief ministerial aspirant, said, “We are also hearing that something to this effect is being discussed in Delhi but so far no one (from Delhi) has called us and asked for our views on this matter.”
On saturday evening, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had called a meeting with his party’s ministers in the state cabinet that lasted for almost three hours. However, Pawar gave no indication of being upset with Patil, said a senior minister of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which runs the government in the state along with the Congress.
Another senior Congress leader said as Shivraj Patil was perceived as a “liability” in the political circles, it was no different is the case of RR Patil, who is also the state’s deputy chief minister. So if the Congress leadership can ask Shivraj Patil to go then NCP leadership should also act tough and ask RR Patil to go, he demanded. Although RR Patil himself has denied he has been asked to quit, state Water Resource Minister Ajit Pawar, Finance Minister Jayant Patil and Public Works Minister Chhagan Bhujbal have mounted pressure on Sharad Pawar demanding a replacement for the minister, the Congress leader claimed.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee President Manikrao Thakre, who is considered close to Deshmukh, has denied any possibility of a change in leadership in the state.
