Issue of graft,scams behind Cong loss in civic polls: Chavan

The Chief Minister,they said,told the Central leadership that the land allotment controversy allegedly involving former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh too figured in the mind of a section of the electorate.

With the scams and scandals dominating the media for the past one year,the young voter who constituted a sizable lot among the electorate,got especially influenced,party sources said.

The Congress had undertaken a post-poll survey in the megapolis and these were among its findings.

Shivsena-BJP-RPI alliance trounced the Congress-NCP combine in the civic polls which were described as a fight between the NDA and the UPA by the Chief Minister.

After the polls,the AICC had rejected suggestions of resignation of the Chief Minister who had strongly advocated for tie up with NCP to oust BJP-Shivsena from power in Mumbai Municipal Corporation.

Senior Maharashtra Minister Narayan Rane also had a separate meeting with Gandhi.

The sources said Union Ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh and Rajeev Shukla are almost set to be renominated by the party as its nominees for the Rajya Sabha biennial elections scheduled next month. A section in the state unit are opposing a second term for Shukla contending that óutsiders’ should not be nominated. Shukla hails from Uttar Pradesh.