BOMBAY, 28 August — Dissatisfied with the performance of the Maharashtra state Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, the Congress party President Sonia Gandhi is contemplating to change him shortly, sources said.
With assembly elections just two years from now, replacing an inefficient chief minister at this juncture is said to be the right move. Key Congress leaders who are aspiring to bag the post are Sushil Kumar Shinde, Govindrao Adhik, the present state Congress chief and Patangrao Kadam, the state industries minister.
Hectic activities and lobbying for the aspiring candidates are taking place in the Congress circles. Daggers are being drawn and plans to uproot the apple cart of Deshmukh and pull the rugs beneath his feet are moving at rapid speed.
Sonia has taken serious note of the drifting of Deshmukh toward the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar, and of his growing proximity to the NCP leader. She is of the view that the Congress base has not increased in the state under the leadership of the chief minister and that he has been neglecting party workers all along.
Deshmukh is said have become inaccessible to people and spends quite a time in traveling and polishing his image. Charges leveled against the chief minister also includes his leniency toward a incompetent and lazy bureaucracy.
The chief minister has lost his credibility and clean image, said Asif Khan, a Congress worker in south Bombay. Deshmukh is a prisoner of the bureaucracy and cannot take any decision on his own like the NCP ministers, said a Congress MLA and added that corruption has increased manifold during his regime.
Sonia has also taken a serious note on the failure of the public relations exercise by the chief minister, as well as his attitude while treating the foreign media journalists, said a party leader. "It's the beginning of an end" for Vilasrao Deshmukh, who has no choice left now, but to resign, he added.
