Sandeep Ashar
Mumbai, May 22
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, under pressure after the Congress?s election drubbing, will survive in his post, but with reduced powers.
A meeting of Congress ministers at Chavan?s residence on Thursday evening decided to create a core group to deal with pending policy matters. Files on development works in assembly segments represented by Congress MLAs will now be divided among ministers in the core group, each of whom will have responsibility for at least five such segments.
With Sonia Gandhi having rejected the resignation of Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, senior Congress leaders in Maharashtra said it was now certain that Chavan too would continue.
The leaders said slow decisionmaking had been a reason for the party?s crushing defeat, and said the decision to speed up pending works had been taken to avoid a repeat in the assembly polls scheduled in October.
Industries Minister Narayan Rane, who had skipped Wednesday?s cabinet meeting as well as a meeting to review the party?s loss in Sindhudurg district, was present at Thursday?s meeting. Rane had earlier offered to resign, taking moral responsibility for the defeat, a move widely seen to have been calculated to pressure Chavan to step down.
The meeting was also attended by Employment Guarantee Scheme Minister Nitin Raut, who too had offered to resign.