Ahead of Maharashtra polls, Shinde to meet Sonia on leadership change

Congress leader Sushilkumar Shinde left for New Delhi on Monday, where he is expected to meet Congress President Sonia Gandhi and submit his views on the change of leadership in Maharashtra and also suggest measures to revive the party ahead of the assembly elections slated for September-October.

Shinde was not reachable. However, a Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary, who did not want to be identified, said: “Shinde is in Delhi and he will meet Sonia Gandhi. His views on the party’s debacle in the Lok Sabha elections are crucial. On June 28, (Congress leader) A K Antony will hear the views of (Chief Minister) Prithviraj Chavan and a couple of party leaders on the Congress’s rout and the way forward. A decision, if any, on Chavan’s removal, will be taken by the high command after the June 28 meeting.”

Shinde, who lost by a margin of 150,000 votes to Bharatiya Janata Party nominee Sharad Bansode in Solapur, enjoys a good rapport with various factions within the Congress. Besides, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar has stated that his party won’t have any objection if the Congress decides to make Shinde the chief minister in the run-up to the assembly

polls.

Interestingly, the pro-Chavan lobby in the Congress has strongly argued that Chavan’s removal would send a wrong signal within the party that it was done under the NCP’s pressure. “Chavan has made a detailed presentation to Sonia about the files he cleared during his over three-and-half-year tenure. Besides, the chief minister also clarified that he was not clearing those files of personal works especially moved by the ministries held by NCP. He also told the high command that he will not like to step down by creating another Adarsh scam,” a minister close to Chavan said.

Meanwhile, as reported by Business Standard, NCP will appoint Minister of Water Resources Sunil Tatkare, an OBC Gawli, as the Maharashtra unit president, replacing Bhaskar Jadhav. NCP has convened a meeting of an extended state executive on June 25, where Tatkare will be formally elected as the state unit president. Tatkare, who was recently cleared by the special investigation team in the alleged multi-crore irrigation scam, will step down as minister. Jadhav will be inducted into the council of ministers on a cabinet rank.