Chavan to continue as Maha CM

The Congress leadership rewarded Ashok Chavan with a second term as Maharashtra Chief Minister for his good performance and record of winning two elections for the party within a gap of five months during his short tenure as CM early on Sunday morningBhupinder Singh Hooda returns as chief minister of Haryana while Arunachal strongman Dorjee Khandu was today sworn in for a second consecutive term in the states top postThe announcement for retaining Chavan was made a little after 1230 am by the Defence Minister and party leader AK Antony after a highlevel meeting at 10 Janpath the residence of Congress President Sonia GandhiEarlier on Saturday afternoon the 81 newlyelected legislators of Maharashtra had a meeting with the three central observers Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh Defence Minister AK Antony and Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman K RehmanChavan was considered as the frontrunner for the CMs post though there was stiff competition from former Shiv Sena leader and chief minister Narayan RaneEven during last year when Chavan replaced Vilasrao Deshmukh Rane had raised a banner of revolt but eventually chose to remain in the partyLater Chavan managed to mollify him and even inducted him into the cabinet giving him the plum revenue portfolioAnother ambitious person eyeing the post was Union Heavy Industries Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh He apparently opted out of the race after a meeting with Sonia Gandhi in the capital on Friday morningChavan had secured the unexpected backing of former chief minister and Union Power Minister Sushilkumar ShindeMuch earlier Chavans prospects had been boosted before the elections At a public rally in Nanded early this month Gandhi had indicated that if the party returned to power Chavan would continue as the state chief minister as his performance was goodThe sources said that Chavan has already created a lot of goodwill in the party by overseeing two crucial elections during his short tenure as the chief ministerFirst it was the May 2009 Lok Sabha polls followed by the Oct 2009 assembly elections In both the Congress not only performed handsomely but improved its tally visavis its ally Nationalist Congress Party NCPIn 2009 Lok Sabha the Congress bagged 18 seats compared to the 13 it held in the previous Lok Sabha Its ally NCP bagged seven in May 2009 compared to nine it held in the previous 2004 Lok SabhaTheir total comes to 25 in the 48members of Lok Sabha from Maharashtra and the alliance also bagged all the six seats in MumbaiIn the new assembly the CongNCP alliance in the state named Democratic Front bagged a total 144 seats of which the Congress bagged 81 seats and the NCP secured 63 seats in the 288member houseIn the outgoing house 2004 the NCP held 71 seats against the 69 seats held by the Congress the alliance total coming to 140