New Delhi:
Ashok Chavan stays on as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, at least for now.
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister AK Antony, whose report will decide Chavan's fate, met their party boss Sonia Gandhi in the morning. That's after the duo met last night. But after meeting Sonia, they said Chavan wasn't discussed.
"The morning meeting which we had with the Congress President is in connection with tomorrow AICC's meeting. With respect to the Maharashtra issue yesterday, I told in the night to the waiting media persons that we will require some time to study the documents and after that we will be in the position to let the Congress president know," said Pranab Mukherjee, Union Finance minister.
But Chavan's problems are far from over. Former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh now says, "It was Chavan who introduced the civilian quota as revenue minister in 2000 and the problem began because of that."
Vilasrao claimed when he cleared the housing society, it was only for retired and serving defence personnel.
Chavan has refused to react to these charges, but pressure is mounting on the Congress. Today an Opposition delegation met the Maharashtra Governor, demanding the government's dismissal.
"We want to make it clear that any person related to this scam must be dismissed (be it from whichever party), a full enquiry must be conducted and due action must be taken," said BJP President Nitin Gadkari.
The Congress hit back, pointing to the role of Shiv Sena. Narayan Rane, who was chief minister in 1999 when the proposal was first mooted, was with the Sena then.
"The Shiv Sena will have to explain its whole position in the scam," said Congress MP Sanjay Nirupam.
Congress session, high profile visit and festivities round the corner - all these reasons may have given Ashok Chavan a temporary reprieve but the Congress crisis managers know they will have to come up with a smart strategy to tackle the opposition in the parliament next week.