Congress-NCP battle change of CM in Maharashtra

Congress-NCP battle change of CM in Maharashtra

NEW DELHI: The Congress move to replace Prithviraj Chavan as Maharashtra chief minister has got stalled because of disagreement with NCP boss Sharad Pawar over who the replacement should be. Sources said Pawar is insisting on former CM and ex-Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, whereas Congress would like Chavan to be replaced by a fellow Maratha -- Harshvardhan Patil, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil or Balasaheb Thorat.

The logjam was the reason for the postponement of the decision to send a central observer to supervise the "election" of a new leader of the Congress legislature party and has raised the prospect of a reprieve of sorts for Chavan. "It is a 50:50 situation," said a party leader when asked to assess the chances of the incumbent hanging on for the remainder of his tenure.

Maharashtra will go for assembly polls in October and the Congress-NCP alliance is in dire straits in the state after its rout in the recent Lok Sabha elections. In Assam, however, Tarun Gogoi may have to make way for his health minister Hemanta Sarma if the latter gets the support of the majority of MLAs in a trial of strength which would be overseen by party's leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjuna Kharge as central observer.

Party sources reckon that as of now, Sarma, who spurned Gogoi's offer of deputy chief ministership to stick to his demand for leadership change by sounding out MLAs, has 40 of the 79 Congress MLAs behind him. Though he has an "image problem", Sarma may replace Gogoi if his numbers hold firm. In Maharashtra, Chavan had appeared to be on his way out until NCP muddied the waters by opposing the three Marathas Congress favoured as possible replacement for Chavan.

NCP, which counts Marathas as its mainstay, will not allow a challenge to its credentials as the natural leader of the dominant community. NCP is pitching for Sushil Kumar Shinde as replacement for Prithviraj Chavan as Maharashtra CM Congress has emphasized the prerogative to decide who should lead its legislature group, but seems chary of annoying Pawar ahead of a poll where the odds seem stacked in favour of the rival BJP-Shiv Sena combine.

The rout in Lok Sabha at the hands of BJP-Shiv Sena combine and the idea to replace Chavan is rooted in desperation that the Congress has to do something to salvage the situation before the assembly elections in October. A section of partymen believes the CM has failed to enthuse workers and only his ouster would lift the cadres from the debilitating defeat.

 source:timesofindia

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