Upset by loss, Chavan considers stepping down

In the wake of Congress party’s poor performance in the civic polls, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan is reported to be ready to step down.

In the wake of Congress party’s poor performance in the civic polls, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan is reported to be ready to step down.

Chavan had promised the party high command of performing better than his predecessors.

When asked, Chavan did not say much on his preparedness to quit. “It is your news,” he said reacting to a report that the high command had turned down his offer to resign.

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However, his colleagues said Chavan had been mulling over the idea ever since the Mumbai results started to come in on Friday afternoon. “Chavan was crestfallen,” said a Congress leader requesting anonymity.

According to political analyst Surendra Jondhale, Chavan was unlikely to complete his term in the CM’s office. “The CM could not prove himself a team leader though he toured the city and state extensively for the civic and zilla parishad elections,” he said.

Jondhale said the Congress would have had an advantage for the 2014 Lok Sabha and assembly polls had it won the civic elections.

Conceding defeat, Chavan congratulated the Thackeray family on their win. But he refused to accept that his remark that Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray would be inconsequential after the civic polls had backfired. “Now my statement does not hold any ground,” he told the media.

The defeat has, however, given Chavan’s detractors within the Congress an opportunity to gloat. “The anti-Chavan camp will create an impression that the CM formed his strategy on the basis of wrong information given to him by a few selfish leaders,” the leader said.