CM race begins,Chavan is frontrunner

Rane,who was the chief minister for nine months in 1999 during the Shiv Sena-BJP regime,has for long harboured ambitions of occupying the chief minister’s chair. When he crossed over from the Sena to the Congress in 2005 and engineered defections of seven Sena MLAs (six of whom were re-elected on Congress tickets),he had claimed that the high command had promised to make him the chief minister in six months.

When Chavan was chosen to replace Deshmukh in December last year,Rane openly criticised Deshmukh,Chavan and some Delhi leaders for conspiring against him. Rane’s rabblerousing attitude did not go down well with the high command and he was forced to make peace with Chavan and Deshmukh. It seems unlikely that the Congress would choose Rane to replace Chavan,some party officials said.

Chavan had taken over from his predecessor Vilasrao Deshmukh on December 8,2008,after Deshmukh had to step down following lapses in handling the 26/11 terror attack. Chavan has been in power for hardly 10 months,during which he and the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) chief Manikrao Thakre (who had taken over from Prabha Rau a year ago) had to steer the party to victory in two crucial elections — the Lok Sabha polls in April this year and the Assembly polls a week ago.

“We have been saying that we’ll get a clear majority and it has happened. We don’t need support from other parties or Independents,” Thakre said. “We’ll have a meeting of legislators after which the decision on the next chief minister would be taken by the high command.”

Chavan himself was noncommittal. He said that it was upto the party high command to decide on whether to retain him as the chief minister and that he would accept whatever decision it would take. Chavan is the son of former Union minister,late S B Chavan,and his stint as the chief minister has been non-controversial. Besides,during his tenure,the Congress could win 17 seats in the recent Lok Sabha elections and has improved its tally in the Assembly elections.

Deshmukh is a Chavan detractor since both of them hail from the Marathwada region. Chavan had invited the wrath of Deshmukh when,shortly after taking over as the chief minister,he had decided to shift the proposed revenue headquarters from Latur (Deshmukh’s hometown) to Nanded (his hometown). The decision had led to protests in the region and had to be put on hold.

However,by nominating Deshmukh to the Rajya Sabha and making him a Union minister,the party has already indicated that it may not bring back Deshmukh as chief minister. Besides,Deshmukh himself has made it a point to emphasise that he is happy in Delhi. “I am happy at the Centre. The party high Command will decide on this issue and I will be happy with that decision,” he said.