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Sonrise: Chavan is Maharashtra CM New Delhi, December 5 Chavan's name was announced outside 10 Janpath minutes after the other strong contender in the race Narayan Rane lashed out at the Congress in Mumbai. Announcing the decision, senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee said party president Sonia Gandhi and the party decided upon Chavan’s name. The announcement, however, was marked by embarrassment for the Congress as Rane refused to work under Chavan. Rane reportedly slammed party president Sonia Gandhi, Deshmukh and Chavan, questioning the process of election of the new leader. The name of 50-year-old Chavan, son of late S.B. Chavan, as leader of the Congress Legislature Party was approved by Gandhi after hours of deliberations with senior party leaders A.K. Antony and Pranab Mukherjee, who were in Mumbai on Thursday as observers at the legislatures' meeting in Mumbai. Gandhi was authorised by the state CLP to choose the new leader after MLAs and MLCs failed to arrive at a consensus before Mukherjee and Antony. The two leaders meet Gandhi in the Capital and reported to her the deliberations in Mumbai. As per the Congress sources, Rane’s past association with the Shiv Sena, went against him. Despite
being people’s man, which was his strong point, he is traditionally not from the party and had joined a few years ago. On the other hand, Chavan, besides being a Maratha, is perceived as a party loyalist because of long family history of association with the party. He also has the support of Deshmukh, who had been lobbying for Chavan because of his own equations with Rane, who is a bitter critic of Desmukh. Realising that he was no longer the contender for the CM post - it had become clear after CLP meeting yesterday - Rane let loose the attack on the leadership, including the Congress president, at a press conference in Mumbai. According to a senior Congress leader, “Rane is the man who wanted the job even when Deshmukh was in the chair. Naturally, he is bound to be more active in a situation like this. A large number of people believe there is a very negative side to the leader. Moreover, he’s not a traditional Congressman”. Rane’s name was doing the rounds for the post, along with union ministers Sushil Kumar Shinde and Prithviraj Chavan. Congress leader Balasahib Vikhe Patil was another aspirant. Ashok Chavan, who is considered relatively inexperienced, will now be expected to head the party from the front in the Lok Sabha elections in 2009. Admitting that Prithviraj Chavan would have been a better choice, a senior Congress leader defended Ashok Chavan saying that being an unknown entity may actually work to his advantage. Meanwhile, the Congress hinted that it could take a disciplinary action against Rane for his outburst against party leadership. “If he has spoken what you have said, it is a case for disciplinary action,” party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said here. “We know how to deal with it…when it comes to matters of discipline, there’s only rule for the highest and the lowest in the party,” Singhvi said, indirectly hinting at the recent action taken against senior leader Margaret Alva. Chavan represents Mudkhed constituency in the assembly. He was a member of Parliament for two years from 1987-89 and was elected to the assembly in 1999. He was the youngest contender for the post of CM with Shinde and Prithviraj Chavan having crossed the age of 60. Bhujbal is deputy CM Mumbai, December 5 As per the arrangement between the Congress and the NCP, the latter gets the post of deputy CM who also holds the charge of powerful home ministry. Patil had to resign following last week's terrorist attack in Mumbai. On Friday, the NCP legislative party authorised its supremo Sharad Pawar to choose the deputy CM. Pawar announced Bhujbal's name later in the day. Reacting to his appointment, Bhujbal said his main priority is to spruce up the state police force to usher in a feeling of security among the people. “The police department would be modernised and provided state-of-the-art weaponry to take on terrorists,” Bhujbal said. An important leader of the backward Mali community, Bhujbal asked his followers not to celebrate his appointment since the state was mourning the deaths of those killed in the Mumbai terror attack. It would be Bhujbal's second stint as deputy CM. He had earlier quit the post in 2003 after his name was linked to Abdul Karim Telgi in the stamp paper scam. Though Bhujbal's name was cleared by the court, Pawar took his time to rehabilitate the former in the party. Only two months ago, Bhujbal had sent out feelers to his old mentor Bal Thackeray by withdrawing a defamation suit against the latter. He also went for a lunch at Sena supremo's residence. It was being said Bhujbal was planning to join the Shiv Sena. Though he denied it, Bhujbal did not bother to hide his ‘sadness’ for the way he was treated by the Maratha-dominated NCP. Meanwhile, political observers feel that Pawar has delivered a masterstroke yet again by announcing the name of Bhujbal as deputy CM. With the Congress-NCP combine on the backfoot in Maharashtra ahead of the assembly elections next year, the NCP is likely to woo the backward castes with the help of Bhujbal who already heads an OBC forum. Both the Congress and the NCP were afraid that Bhujbal could break away and form a new party on election-eve thereby badly damaging the ruling coalition.
Ashok Chavan — From fringes to centrestage Ashok Chavan who was named as Chief Minister of Maharashtra has been in politics for more than 20 years. In political circles, Chavan, 50, is known as the son of former Chief Minister and Indira Gandhi loyalist Shankarrao B.Chavan. Belonging to the politically powerful Maratha caste, the Chavans hail from Marathwada which has been home to a number of political heavyweights. It also helped that the elder Chavan had groomed outgoing Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh when he was starting out in politics decades ago. Deshmukh seems to have decided that it was time to return the favour and is said to have backed Chavan before party bosses. Ashok Chavan had begun his political career way back in 1987 when he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Nanded. His father was the Chief Minister of Maharashtra then. However, the younger Chavan's entry into the state legislature came after a stint in the party offices and he was elected from the Mudkhed constituency in 1999. He was handed the portfolios of revenue and protocol. After the Congress-NCP coalition returned to power in 2003, Chavan was given transport, ports, cultural affairs and protocol. Only in 2004 was he given portfolios of some importance-industries and mining, along with cultural affairs and protocol. According to observers here, Chavan's performance has been rather lacklustre. However he managed to stay away from the limelight and did not rub too many people the wrong way. This proved to be a plus point as compared to the abrasive Narayan Rane who is widely disliked by both the ruling and opposition parties in Maharashtra.
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