Why is everyone out to get rid of Mr Clean-up?

Incumbent chief minister of Maharashtra Prithviraj Chavan, who took over the reins of the state in November 2010 after Ashok Chavan was forced to step down in the aftermath of the alleged Adarsh housing society scam, enjoys the image of a clean politician.

Incumbent chief minister of Maharashtra Prithviraj Chavan, who took over the reins of the state in November 2010 after Ashok Chavan was forced to step down in the aftermath of the alleged Adarsh housing society scam, enjoys the image of a clean politician.

He is widely appreciated for reining in the all-powerful builders lobby. And he brought some discipline in the state administration.

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However, he has run afoul of several sections, who are now happy that Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party has trained its guns on him. The NCP is most vocal against Chavan, accusing him of not taking it into confidence while taking important decisions. Pawar has been frequently criticising him over policy paralysis in the state government.

To make matters worse, legislators owing allegiance to former CMs Ashok Chavan and Vilasrao Deshmukh also took on Chavan in a meeting held last month and told him that they were not happy with his functioning. From the builders lobby to his party colleagues who have had their knives out for him, and now with Pawar gunning for his head, Chavan seems to have become everybody's favourite whipping boy.

Partly, he has himself to blame — he avoided and side-stepped key decisions in areas ranging from policy-making to transfers in the guise of having to "completely study (an) issue", initially for weeks and then for months together, rendering the administration in a semi-paralytic state.

On the other hand, he can also blame the mandate given to him: to clean up Maharashtra administration and restore a semblance of respectability and integrity in the wake of several top bureaucrats and politicians, including his predecessor, implicated in the Adarsh scam.