The Congress party on Wednesday night accepted the resignation of Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh in
the wake of Mumbai terror attacks even as there was no clarity on who his successor will be with a bunch of names including Union minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and state minister Narayan Rane emerging as contenders.

The announcement of the acceptance of the 63-year old chief minister's resignation from came from senior Congress
leader and Defence Minster A K Antony after party chief Sonia Gandhi held yet another round of consultations with senior leaders.

Congress' central observers will be in Mumbai on Thursday and a new leader will be chosen thereafter.

The terror attacks earlier took the political toll of Union Home Minster Shivraj Patil and R R Patil as deputy chief minister of Maharashtra who owned moral responsibility for failing to avert the terror attacks.

The names of Shinde and Prithviraj Chavan as also Maharashtra minister Ashok Chavan are also doing the rounds for the top job while a section of the party also feels that former state minister Govindrao Adik is also an aspirant.