Cabinet suggests Prez rule in Maharashtra

The Union Cabinet today recommended the imposition of the President's Rule in Assembly poll-bound Maharashtra, a day after Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan resigned following the end of the 15-year Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) alliance in the state.

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 to the President Central rule in the state where Assembly polls will be held on October 15, sources said.

After NCP withdrew support, Chavan resigned and his resignation was accepted by Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao today.

As Assembly elections in Maharashtra are scheduled for next month, the Governor in his report to the Centre has recommended the imposition of the President's rule in the state, said the sources.

NCP had on Thursday called off its alliance with the Congress accusing Chavan of neglecting it and stalling talks over seat-sharing.

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 that led to the collapse of the alliance.