New Delhi: The AICC’s plan for Maharashtra could be announced in the next 48 hours. CM Prithviraj Chavan, a loyalist of the “Gandhi-Nehru family”, was not able to deliver in the LS elections. The central leadership is now unsure of how the current team will retain power in Maharashtra in the state polls.
Mr Chavan, who has been camping in the national capital since Friday, met the Congress president’s political secretary Ahmed Patel, senior leader A.K. Antony, Leader of the Opposition in the RS Ghulam Nabi Azad, former PM Manmohan Singh and others. He also made a courtesy call to President Pranab Mukherjee.
Mr Prithviraj Chavan refused to share details of his interactions with the central leaders, but he told the party president that the atmosphere of uncertainty is not good the state. “I have apprised the Congress leadership about the atmosphere of uncertainty... We need to get clarity soon,” Mr Chavan said, who steered clear of specific questions on whether he has been asked to put in his papers.
Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who also met Mrs Gandhi in the morning, dismissed talks about him being replaced him as “just rumours” while Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi will arrive here on Sunday and meet the high command on Monday.
The AICC undertook the “operation” in these states on the basis of feedback that Mrs Gandhi got in the past one month. Although the Congress got two Lok Sabha seats — Ashok Chavan from Nanded and Rajeev Satav from Hingoli — of the total 27 it had fought in alliance with the NCP, Mr Ashok Chavan won due to a sympathy factor.
