Signalling that Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh may finally be running out of luck, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has appointed a three-member committee to assess the party’s position in the state under his leadership and to screen potential successors. This committee, which among others, includes External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A K Antony, has already held a round of discussions with the Chief Minister, sources said.

Subject to this committee’s recommendations, Sonia will take the final call sometime next week. “The issue is not his (Deshmukh) continuation, but his succession,” said a party source.

The CM, who had been called to New Delhi on Sunday, has got reprieve only until the Assembly is on, said sources. The last date of the ongoing session is not fixed yet and is subject to the decision of the Business Advisory Committee that meets on April 10.

On Sunday, Sonia had told reporters that Maharashtra CM’s position was “very stable” thus prompting the CM to declare in Mumbai that “rumours” about his removal were “baseless”. Congress sources here, however, explained that Sonia’s remarks were “general” in nature and were meant to reflect the stability of the Congress-NCP government in the state.

Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde is the frontrunner in the race for succession although Deshmukh’s rival Narayan Rane is also in the reckoning, according to a senior party leader who is no longer in the race for the Chief Minister’s chair.

Given the fact that the Power portfolio was given as additional charge to Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh in Sunday’s reshuffle, Shinde’s transfer to Mumbai Secretariat, if and when finalised, should be a smooth affair. Deshmukh is likely to be rehabilitated as AICC General Secretary.

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