Mumbai, Oct 18: For the Congress, the good old days of being in power are back. And with it is the Congress culture of the chief ministers always being at the beck and call of the high command in Delhi and spending more time in the national capital than in the state.True to this culture, Vilasrao Deshmukh rushed to Delhi immediately after being sworn in as the new Chief Minister today to brief the high command about the political situation in the state and discuss the dispute over inclusion of members in the new ministry which would be expanded on Tuesday.Such was Deshmukh's eagerness to make it to Delhi, that he even cancelled his customary meet the press programme organised by the Mantralaya Reporters' Association.Accompanied by MPCC President Prataprao Bhosale, Deshmukh will call on AICC President Sonia Gandhi and AICC General Secretary Madhavrao Scindia and discuss the allotment of portfolios in Tuesday's expansionAs per the agreement reached between the Congress and the NCP, the departments held by Shiv Sena are to go to the Congress, while NCP is to get the BJP departments.However, in view of large number of claimants, Deshmukh and Bhosale were unable to draft the list of cabinet members. ``As per the agreement, Congress will get Revenue, Urban Development, Industries, Housing and Forest and Environment departments, but at least four persons, who are likely to be inducted into the cabinet have staked claim on the Urban Development Department and equal number have demanded the Revenue portfolio,'' a senior Congress leader revealed.Under such circumstances, Deshmukh has left it to the high command to sort out the mess. ``That is a better option. In the name of the high command, Deshmukh will impose his own decision and in any case, once he says that the high command has approved the list, no one has the courage to challenge it,'' the Congress leader added.Even in NCP, which is a chip of the old block, the situation is more or less similar. After an open spat over the election of the leader of the NCP legislature party, now a fight has begun over sharing of portfolios.A cold war is on between Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal and Padamsinh Patil, a trusted aide of Sharad Pawar over the Home portfolio. While Bhujbal feels that since he is the Deputy Chief Minister, he should be given the Home portfolio, Padamsinh's contention is that the Deputy Chief Minister should not be given that department and it should be allotted to him since he was in-charge of the same department during the Congress rule.Similarly, there's a tug-of-war for Energy, Irrigation, Public Works and Higher Education departments.
