Deshmukh 'will not go'

There will be no change in leadership in the Maharashtra government, at least for the moment, even though the contenders for the post of the chief minister are increasing among Congressmen.

Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh will continue to stay, at least for now, until the Congress high command considers such a move, say party leaders.

Though Deshmukh has been accused of taking a casual stand on several state-related issues, one trump card that his detractors have is his closeness to Sharad Pawar, president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

The Congress and the NCP are the major partners in the Democratic Front coalition that rules the state. Pawar was dismissed from the Congress party for his stand that Sonia Gandhi could not become the prime minister of the country because of her foreign origins.

The talk of change in leadership has been going on right from the time the government had to prove its majority in the state assembly in June this year following a spate of defections, mostly from the NCP.

And now, there is enough talk doing the rounds that cabinet ministers Patangrao Kadam and Rohidas Patil and party leaders Suresh Kalmadi and Ranjit Deshmukh are vying for the post or are at least ganging up against the chief minister.

Another aspirant for the post is former minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, who recently contested for the post of the vice-president.

State party president Govindrao Adik says he is not aware of any such move, although he admits that one of the considerations for the party coming back to power in the next elections is its performance.