Mumbai, New Delhi:
By the early afternoon, the profusion of bouquets and their enthusiastic bearers signalled the headliner-status of Prithviraj Chavan.
On Wednesday morning, Chavan, the Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, was hand-picked by Sonia Gandhi to take over as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. "I am highly honoured and humbled by my responsibility, said Prithviraj.
He owes his new designation, party sources say, to his pristine reputation and image.
That is a breath of fresh air for the Congress in Maharashtra where Ashok Chavan, who exits as Chief Minister, is being seen as the manager of his own descent.
Ashok Chavan is inextricably entangled with the Adarsh Society scam - a building meant for war widows and defence veterans in Mumbai was cornered by bureaucrats, politicians, and retired defence officers. Chavan, over the last few years, held offices that sanctioned key decisions which permitted the misappropriation of those apartments - at heavily-discounted rates to people who should have been ineligible for them.
On Tuesday, the Congress took Chavan up on his offer to resign. As several other Congressmen from Maharashtra got in line for the Chief Minister's opening, Prithviraj was the clear front-runner, in some ways, by a process of elimination. Several of the contenders - like Sushilkumar Shinde - had also been in key positions when the Adarsh Society scam was planned and executed.
Prithviraj, known for his close ties to the Gandhis and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, has handled multiple portfolios and critical negotiations for, among others, the Indo-US nuclear deal. What the 64-year-old US-educated engineer doesn't have is a mass voter base in his home state.
There's also the notorious infighting among Congressmen in Maharashtra which sometimes threatens to take up all the oxygen in the party. Today, some factionalists like Vilasrao Deshmukh said they will back Prithviraj. But Deshmukh and Narayane Rane were all chief ministerial hopefuls - and they have made their mark in Maharashtra by sectioning off camps that are loyal to them.
There's also the clutching danger of an alliance that often seems to be a rivalry. Sharad Pawar and his Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are the Congress' partner in Maharashtra. At the best of times, there has been a tug-of-war over power and policy. Pawar is strongest in Western Maharashtra, including Karad, where Prithviraj comes from. Pawar praised Prithviraj today as "a good and sober man."
But the two men are believed to have shared an uneasy relationship in Delhi - now it will be tested on their home turf.