Amid rumours over who the next CM would be, Congress leadership kept the cards close to its chest till late last night
Amid rumours over who the next CM would be, Congress u00a0u00a0leadership kept the cards close to its chest till late last night
While the media waited like hungry scavengers outside the State Assembly till midnight yesterday to know who would be Maharashtra's next chief minister (CM), the Congress leadership threw away no answers.
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| Kisa Kursi ka:u00a0Who will be the next CM? |
The main course of information will come before noon today.
There was the frequent snack of rumour and red herring though, floated by rival camps of former CMs Ashok Chavan and Vilasrao Deshmukh. While even the whispers seemed to point at Prithviraj Chavan's imminent appointment, till late in the night the Deshmukh camp made it seem that their leader's chance of getting the job was very real.
Sonia to decide
At the end of it, what mattered was Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's short, grumpy announcement: "The Congress Legislative Party (CLP) met and adopted a resolution authorising and requesting the Congress President to choose the next leader. We have noted everything. We will report to the Congress president.
When she decides, it will be communicated to you." MLAs were called in individually for their opinion on who should be the CM. Congress sources said special care was taken to take at least 10 independent MLAs into confidence.
"A majority of MLAs have demanded that either the senior Balasaheb Vikhe Patil should be made the chief minister in case somebody, who is not from the assembly has to be nominated, or the junior Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil should be made the chief minister in case they want somebody from the assembly," said a minister who is a Chavan camp supporter.
Another MLC from the Deshmukh camp even went to the extent of saying that all the 35 MLAs, who attended the CLP meet, were in favour of Deshmukh being made chief minister.
While the son of another leader, who is an aspirant, said that there was no clarity as to who will be made the leader.
"As it is, they must have decided who the next chief minister would be and they are just doing it for namesake," the leader's son said.
However, a senior Congress leader, who is in the know of things, confirmed to MiD DAY that Prithviraj Chavan would, in all likelihood, be made the chief minister.
