“Congress president Sonia Gandhi has chosen Prithviraj Chavan as the Maharashtra Congress Legislature Party leader,” senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee told reporters in New Delhi.
He said the Maharashtra CLP had last night authorised Ms. Gandhi to name its new leader and the Congress chief chose 64-year-old Chavan this morning.
After the announcement, Mr. Chavan met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh shortly before he left for Seoul to attend the G-20 summit and submitted resignation as MoS in the PMO.
Mr. Chavan was heading five departments as Union Minister.
‘A Great Responsibility’
“I am extremely grateful to the Congress leadership for having entrusted the responsibility to me. I am accepting it with all the humility,” Mr. Chavan, a loyalist of the Gandhi family, said.
Mr. Chavan, currently a Member of the Rajya Sabha, said the task of leading Maharashtra is a “great responsibility” and that he would try to do his best.
In significant comments against the backdrop of several factions in Maharashtra’s Congress unit, Mr. Chavan said “I will try to take everybody with me together.”
Mr. Chavan also said he will seek the cooperation and support of all and that he was sure the Congress-NCP coalition government will “work smoothly” and try to make Maharashtra a “pre-eminent” state. He said he will speak to the leaders of coalition partners.
Chavan’s selection ‘good’
Mr. Chavan, who has been a steadfast opponent of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, said he spoke to the Union Agriculture Minister and that he will also meet him personally.
Mr. Pawar on his part said Mr. Chavan’s choice was “good”.
“Chavan’s selection is good. He is a balanced man. The coalition government (in Maharashtra) will work smoothly,” Mr. Pawar said when asked to comment on the Congress High Command’s announcement.
swearing-in likely tomorrow
Raj Bhavan sources in Mumbai said swearing-in of Mr. Chavan as the new Chief Minister is unlikely today. Mr. Chavan is likely to leave for Mumbai this evening.
“Swearing-in today is a remote possibility...If Chavan, accompanied by leader of NCP Legislature party, meet the Governor this evening, swearing-in may take place tomorrow,” the sources told PTI.
Mr. Chavan met Ms. Gandhi today morning in New Delhi. He met Ms. Gandhi at her 10, Janpath residence and the two are understood to have discussed the political situation in Maharashtra.
Senior Congress leaders Pranab Mukherjee and A. K. Antony, who had last night attended the Congress Legislature Party meeting in Mumbai, also met Ms. Gandhi this morning.
Hailing from Karad district of Western Maharashtra, Mr. Chavan belongs to the politically dominant Maratha community and his elevation to the Chief Minister’s post is also being seen as a move by the Congress to stop consolidation of Maratha votes in favour of NCP.
His father, a prominent Congressman D R alias Anandrao Chavan, was the “diwan” of the Indore royalty and a well-known legal luminary, who served as minister in the cabinets of Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi.
An engineer by profession, Mr. Chavan graduated from BITS Pilani and got a masters degree from the University of California.
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