New Delhi, December 3
After four days of indecisiveness, Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has been asked to step down.

Deshmukh’s resignation, submitted in the wake of severe criticism over his government’s inept handling of the Mumbai attacks, has been formally accepted.

In charge of the party’s Maharashtra affairs A.K. Antony, after a day-long parleys between leaders of the Congress and coalition partner NCP in the Capital, said Deshmukh’s resignation had been accepted. Senior Congress leaders, including Antony and external affairs minsiter Pranab Mukherjee, met NCP leaders Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel on Wednesday to decide on Deshmukh's successor.

Congress and its allies will now meet in Mumbai, where a legislators’ party meeting is scheduled on Thursday to decide on the next Chief Minister. Senior Cabinet ministers Pranab Mukherjee and A.K. Antony will be present as observers.

Deshmukh’s exit is the latest in a spate of resignations following the Mumbai terror attacks. Earlier, Union home minister Shivraj Patil resigned followed by Maharashtra home minister R.R. Patil.

Now that his resignation has been accepted, the names of Maharashtra leaders Ashok Chavan and Narayan Rane have been added to the earlier list of probables that included union power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Prithviraj Chauhan.