Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan was forced to tender his resignation to Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Saturday in the wake of the controversy surrounding the allotment of flats in the Adarsh Housing Society in Colaba, Mumbai.
But the party high command is in a bind as it grapples with the tricky issue of finding a successor to the scam-tainted Chavan. The new chief minister not only has to be effective as a political leader, but also has to manage the difficult coalition with the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
"The person should be competent, not too old, have a clean image and belong to the politically correct caste or be a Maratha or Dalit," a Congress leader said.
Mukul Wasnik, Prithviraj Chavan, Vilasrao Deshmukh, Sushil Kumar Shinde and Gurudas Kamat are some of the names doing the rounds, but none of them is completely acceptable to the high command, a source said, as they are either weak or tainted. Shinde and Deshmukh were named in the Adarsh flat allotment scam, while both Wasnik and Chavan do not have a mass base in Maharashtra.
Deshmukh's candidature becomes even weaker because it was Chavan who had replaced him following his inept handling of the 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai.
The other name to feature is that of Narayan Rane, the state revenue minister. However, his wife was named in another land-grab scam in Maharashtra on Friday, which could scuttle his chances. In any case, he has never been popular with the party high command. State education minister Patangrao Kadam is another candidate, but he, too, is considered to be weak.
The party has two more problems on its hands -- it needs a new state chief as well as a new Mumbai party chief. Manikrao Thakre, the party's state unit president, was recently caught on camera making remarks about collecting funds for a rally in the state in which Sonia was to speak. The Mumbai Congress chief Kripa Shankar Singh may also be replaced as his name is being associated in the corruption scandal involving former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda. Lok Sabha MP Priya Dutt may replace Singh while petroleum minister Murli Deora (a former Mumbai Congress chief) could replace Thakre.
The other dilemma before Sonia is to strike a balance while zeroing in on the PCC president and the chief minister. If one is a Maratha, the other can't be from the same community.
Sources said the party is divided whether the decision to replace Chavan needs to be taken before the AICC session on November 2 or after US President Barack Obama's visit to Mumbai on November 6 and 7. "The meet cannot be held under a scam cloud," a source said.
The source added: "It has been embarrassing for the party because the media ran a sustained campaign for a week over Chavan's relatives being beneficiaries in a housing society meant for Kargil war widows."
This pressured an image-conscious Congress president to act swiftly. On Friday night, Sonia summoned Chavan to explain his role in the scam. The rattled CM met the Congress president on Saturday morning and submitted his resignation following an hourlong meeting.
Congress spokesperson Janardan Dwivedi said the party president had appointed a two-member committee comprising senior party leaders and Union ministers Pranab Mukherjee and A.K. Antony (who is also the AICC general secretary in charge of Maharashtra) to probe the charges and submit a report soon.
"Any further development in the matter will take place after the report is submitted," he said.
Congress spokesperson Janardan Dwivedi said the party president had appointed a two-member committee comprising senior party leaders and Union ministers Pranab Mukherjee and A.K. Antony (who is also the AICC general secretary in charge of Maharashtra) to probe the charges and submit a report soon. "Any further development in the matter will take place after the report is submitted," he said.
Sources said the formation of a committee is only to buy some time to select a successor. Party insiders feel the exercise will take a few days as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived in Delhi only on Saturday night after a week-long trip abroad, while Mukherjee is away in West Bengal and will be back on Sunday night. "The report may take at least two more days," a party source said.
The Congress is bracing for the winter session of Parliament, which begins on November 9, where it expects to face Opposition anger over the Commonwealth Games and the 2G scams.
If Chavan is not replaced by then, the ruling coalition could be under heavy, sustained fire in Parliament which it will find difficult to defend. By replacing Chavan quickly, the Congress could attempt to take a high moral ground and take the sting out of the Opposition attack.
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