New Delhi, September 27
The Union Cabinet today recommended imposition of President's Rule in poll-bound Maharashtra, a day after Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan resigned following the end of 15-year-old Congress-NCP alliance in the state.

The recommendation comes even after speculation that Chavan may be allowed to continue as the care-taker Chief Minister.

The brief Cabinet meeting, chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh in the absence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is in the US, decided to recommend the President's Rule in the state where assembly elections will be held on October 15, sources said.

After the NCP withdrew support, Chavan resigned on Friday and his resignation was accepted by Governor C Vidyasagar Rao today. The NCP decided to terminate the 15-year-old alliance with the Congress as talks between the two parties for seat-sharing failed.

The NCP's insistence on the two allies contesting an equal number of the state's 288 assembly seats and demand for rotational chief ministership for half of the government's five-year term if the alliance retained power were the sticking points during the seat-sharing talks which eventually led to the collapse of the alliance.