Chavan resigns; hunt for successor begins

CPP Secretary Suresh Kalmadi also quits.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and Congress Parliamentary Party Secretary Suresh Kalmadi — both tainted by allegations of corruption — resigned their posts today, sparing the Congress an Opposition assault on the first day of Parliament’s winter session.

Minister of State in the PMO Prithviraj Chavan is the frontrunner for the coveted chief ministership. The resignations are expected to put pressure on allies like the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, whose nominee, Telecommunications Minister A Raja, also faces corruption charges.

Although Ashok Chavan had earlier offered his resignation to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, at 10.30 this morning he was told to tender it to Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan. “This was done because our deadline was 11 am,” said a Union minister. Parliament reconvened at 11 am.

However, the party is in a dilemma over Chavan’s successor. Power Minister S K Shinde was considered, but his appointment will create a vacancy in the Lok Sabha, forcing a by-election that the Congress would rather not risk in Maharashtra at this time. In a Lok Sabha, where the Congress can no longer rely completely on allies like Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal and Ramvilas Paswan’s Lok Janashakti Party after the bad blood caused by the Bihar election, the party would like to avoid taking chances.

On the other hand, there is a question mark over the suitability of available candidates in the state. The three candidates being considered are Minister of Forests Patangrao Kadam, Agriculture Minister Balasaheb Thorat and Roads & Transport Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil.

The Centre would like an urbane English-speaking politician to become the chief minister of a state that has the financial capital of India. Only Vikhe Patil fits the bill.

Union Defence Minister A K Antony and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee flew to Mumbai to ascertain the views of MLAs. However, indications are that no successor to Chavan will be decided for three or four days.