Time's up for CM?

Now that Barack Obama has left town, Chavan's fate will be decided in the next day or two, say insiders

Now that Barack Obama has left town, Chavan's fate will be decided in the next day or two, say insiders

Now that US President Barack Obama has left town, taking with him the pretext the Congress had for stalling the question of ousting the CM, the fate of Chief Minister Ashok Chavan will, in all likelihood, be decided by today or tomorrow.

Troubled? After the Adarsh building scam, the future does not look very bright for current CM Ashok Chavan. File pic

Decision time
The Congress High Command will, willy-nilly, have to take a call, and fast.

In the Parliament session that begins today, the Congress has its work cut out.

"The party cannot delay the process now that there is no ostensible reason such as Obama's visit. Besides, it would be in trouble, facing the opposition attack on Adarsh Housing scam. The decision has to be taken by Tuesday, or in any case, by Wednesday. They cannot delay further," said a Congress leader from the state.

The next two days are critical for the CM.
If he survives them ufffd and party experts say it is a big if ufffd he may carry on being the CM. But despite speculation that Chavan may still find himself in the CM's chair since it has not been conclusively proven that the Adarsh plot is defence land, party observers say his time is up and that it is certain he will go.

The party has to find a face-saver and that can happen only with the exit of the CM.

Who's next
The dilemma of the Congress High Command is not only about containing the damage caused to its image by the scam, but also in finding a suitable alternative to Chavan.

Names of candidates such as Sushil Kumar Shinde and Vilasrao Deshmukh have some handicap or the other, including being associated with the present scam in one way or the other.

Besides, their performance is nothing that the party can gloat about.

Since the party wants somebody who is non-controversial and without a blot, names such as those of Union Ministers Prithviraj Chavan and Mukul Wasnik have cropped up.

However, they have problems of acceptability in the state as both have been active in Delhi with little or no strength in handling state politics.