Sonia sets up party panel to probe allegations against him

New Delhi: After more than an hour-long meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday afternoon, an embattled Ashok Chavan emerged from 10, Janpath and told journalists he had offered to resign as Chief Minister of Maharashtra, leaving a “final view” on it to Ms. Gandhi.

Soon after, Congress media chairperson Janardan Dwivedi announced that Ms. Gandhi had set up a high-level internal committee — consisting of Union Ministers Pranab Mukherjee and A.K. Antony — to enquire into the allegations against Mr. Chavan in a real estate scam in Mumbai.

With Mr. Chavan's dramatic announcement in Delhi coming less than 24 hours after he had addressed a press conference in Mumbai, where he had stated categorically that there was no question of his stepping down, his offer of resignation was interpreted in party circles as an indication that his days as Chief Minister were numbered.

So, even as Mr. Chavan decided to stay overnight in Delhi, speculation in Congress circles revolved not so much around whether he would survive, but on the timing of his exit. Party sources indicated that Ms. Gandhi would consult Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who arrived late on Saturday night from his foreign tour, before taking a final decision.

Congress sources told The Hindu that the options before the party leadership were limited. One, Mr. Chavan could be allowed to remain as Chief Minister during President Barack Obama's all-important visit to Mumbai on November 6/7 so that the security arrangements are not jeopardised. By that time, the Mukherjee-Antony report would be ready and its contents could be used to drop him later.

But another view is that it would be embarrassing for the government to have a Chief Minister facing charges shaking the U.S. President's hand, and so he should be dropped before the Obama visit. However, this will have to be after November 2, as party leaders do not want the Maharashtra crisis to overshadow the all-important AICC meeting, scheduled for that day. And finally, there appears to be a slim chance that the party brazens it out, allows Mr. Chavan to remain during the Obama visit, and continues with him for the foreseeable future. But for this, he will have to come up with a better defence than he did on Saturday, when he met party leaders, Congress sources said.

Meanwhile, speculation has turned to the question of a possible successor to Mr. Chavan — the two names doing the rounds are those of Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Prithviraj Chavan and Union Social Justice Minister Mukul Wasnik. Heavy Industry Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde for Power do not seem to be in contention right now.

Earlier in the day, Mr. Chavan — accompanied by his wife — first drove to the home of Ahmed Patel, the Congress president's Political Secretary, shortly after he flew in from Mumbai. He, then, met Ms. Gandhi at 10 Janpath – Mr. Patel was present during that meeting. This was preceded by Ms. Gandhi's confabulations with Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, Mr. Dwivedi and Mr. Antony.

The Union Environment Ministry has pointed out that the Adarsh Housing Society, the 31-storey high rise in Colaba, which is in the eye of the current political storm, had been constructed, violating environmental norms.