BOMBAY, 23 June — Fresh trouble is reportedly brewing for Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh a week after he had weathered a political storm by winning a trust vote in the state legislature.
A group of disgruntled Congress party legislators is persistently seeking his replacement. However, Congress President Sonia Gandhi has refused to entertain the MLAs who instead met Congress observer for Maharashra Valyar Ravi and complained how ineffective Deshmukh was and how he had ignored the state’s developmental work.
The dissident group is said to be enjoying the support of state Congress President Govindrao Adik, an archrival of the chief minister, who made an unsuccessful attempt last year to dislodge Deshmukh.
Adik, who returned here last night from New Delhi, said “the performance of the Democratic Front (DF) government was dismal and “corrective measures require to be taken and some policy decisions need to be amended.”
He said the people of Maharashtra were dissatisfied with the DF government, a feeling which was reflected in the recently conducted civic elections.
“There is complete lack of coordination between the government and the party”, and without naming the chief minister, he said the government cannot be run as per the wishes of a “single person”.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), a partner in the government, is also not happy with the chief minister and will be happy to see him go.
A close confidante of Deshmukh told Arab News that the chief minister was buckling under heavy pressure and popular disgruntlement against him was growing.
Meanwhile, NCP state General Secretary Gurunath Kulkarni yesterday alleged that diamond tycoon and film financier Bharat Shah was held to ransom when the DF government was facing a political crisis last week.
Shah languished in jail for 14 months for his alleged links with underworld don Chotta Shakeel.
Kulkarni also alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) spent 500 million rupees to topple the state government and that Shah may have supplied them with funds as he was angry with the government for humiliating him by imprisoning him.
Kulkari also alleged at a press conference that Bharat Shah had met the leader of the opposition in the state legislative council, Nitin Gadkari at his residence
He sought an inquiry into the meeting because “it could not have been casual.”
Gadkari later denied such a meeting and demanded an apology from Kulkarni for making “baseless charges.”
