MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh’s fate hung in the balance yesterday while the resignation of his deputy, R.R. Patil, was accepted following scathing criticism of their response to the Mumbai terror carnage that has left at least 183 dead.

A decision on Deshmukh’s resignation would be taken after consulting the allies in Maharashtra, Defense Minister A.K. Antony said in New Delhi yesterday.

“Vilasrao Deshmukh has offered to resign. We have to consult our allies before we take a decision,” Antony, who is also in-charge of the Maharashtra unit of the Congress, told reporters.

Sources in the Congress said in New Delhi that Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde was likely to succeed Deshmukh. Antony and new Home Minister P. Chidambaram yesterday met Congress President Sonia Gandhi to discuss the issue.

Shinde is understood to have been asked to take charge yesterday morning by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. He met Gandhi soon after Deshmukh announced his readiness to quit. Declining to comment on political developments in Maharashtra, Shinde simply said: “No comments.”

Shinde is being considered as the next Maharashtra CM as he is understood to have a good rapport with leaders of Congress ally in the state, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), particularly its chief Sharad Pawar. Known as a loyalist of the Gandhi family, Shinde had earlier succeeded Deshmukh toward the end of his tenure in the 2003 Congress-NCP government.

Another name that is doing the rounds as a possible successor to Deshmukh is that of Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Prithviraj Chavan. Pawar may not support Chavan’s name as he is not a Marathi.

Deshmukh told reporters at a press conference in Mumbai that he had offered to resign following the terror attacks but the Congress Working Committee (CWC) was yet to accept his resignation. “I accept moral responsibility for the terror attacks and have offered to resign. It is up to the CWC to decide whether to accept my resignation,” he said.

Deshmukh added that he had accepted Patil’s resignation. Later in the evening, Raj Bhavan announced Maharashtra Gov. S.C. Jamir had accepted the resignation. “Patil’s resignation, forwarded by Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh earlier in the day, has been accepted and the chief minister has been informed accordingly,” public relations officer Umesh Kashikar told IANS.