Thaindian News

Mumbai, Sep 13 (IANS) Maharashtra’s Congress leaders Monday authorized party president Sonia Gandhi to decide on the new chiefs for the state and Mumbai city units, a party leader said here.
Senior state Congress leaders met in the city and passed a one-line resolution congratulating Gandhi on her recent re-election as party chief and authorized her to nominate who will lead them at the state and city levels.

All India Congress Committee observer G.S. Charak attended the meeting.

Besides the state and city unit chiefs, the meeting resolved that Gandhi should take the final call on the appointments of executive committee office bearers, state election committee and All India Congress Committee members.

Manikrao Thakre is the president of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) and Kripashankar Singh leads the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee (MRCC).

Present at the meeting were Thakre, Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, Union Heavy Industries Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, former chief minister Shivajirao Patil-Nilangekar, Revenue Minister Narayan Rane, Forest Minister Patangrao Kadam, former state unit president and legislative council chairman Shivajirao Deshmukh, among others.

In view of the problems encountered by Mumbai Congress chief Kripashankar, who is under a cloud of alleged corruption, the prime contenders for the post are Milind Deora, MP and son of Union Minister for Petroleum Murli Deora, and MP Eknath Gaikwad and senior local party leaders Chandrakant Handore and Janardhan Chandurkar.

At the state party chief level, Vilasrao Deshmukh is openly lobbying for his confidantes Ulhas Pawar or Jaywant Awale, even as Thakre is vying for a repeat term with the support of Chief Minister Chavan.

Other hopefuls include veterans like Sudhakar Gangane, former MP Rajani Patil, who was also in the past chairperson of the Central Social Welfare Board (CSWB).