Maharashtra's already beleaguered Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh had a difficult time today defending his turf before party president Sonia Gandhi. After a closed-door session at 10, Janpath, in the afternoon, Deshmukh appeared relieved, said he was still the CM but by many accounts his troubles appear far from over. What really transpired between Sonia and Deshmukh is open to conjecture. What is now known, though, is that the party’s coordination committee for Maharashtra — comprising senior, Delhi-based leaders including S.B. Chavan, Shivraj Patil and Vallayar Ravi — would meet soon to decide his fate. NCP dares Congress to ‘pull out’ of DF govt MUMBAI: The Maharashtra unit of the NCP dared the Congress to ‘‘pull out’’ of the DF government, asserting it would ‘‘never’’ compromise on opposing Sonia Gandhi’s claim to prime ministership. ‘‘Our basic stand of June 1999 that a person of foreign origin should not become Prime Minister cannot be compromised at all,’’ party spokesman Nasim Siddiqui told mediapersons here on Thursday. (PTI) Growing dissidence within the party ranks in Maharashtra is just one of his troubles. Sonia’s biggest grudge against him, point out observers, is his inability at basic governance which has led to the alliance partner NCP making things difficult for the government at every step. Deshmukh denied that he had offered his resignation or the high command had demanded it. Explaining his position, he said: ‘‘I have discussed with Sonia the various speculative media reports in this regard. It’s for our party president to decide who she will keep. She heard me patiently and said my performance is satisfactory.’’ Later, he had another round of talks — this time with Vallayar Ravi, the AICC general secretary in-charge of Gujarat. Ravi denied reports about Deshmukh’s ‘‘impending sacking’’, but at the same time, the senior Congressman did not pitch heavily for the CM either. ‘‘Everything is under control in Maharashtra,’’ was Ravi’s reply to a query linking Deshmukh’s visit here with the reports of party high command cracking a whip on him. On his part, Deshmukh denied that he was summoned by Sonia and said his visit was scheduled much earlier. ‘‘I also came here to call upon the President and the Vice-President.’’ He said ‘‘no Delhi leader’’ was campaigning against him but if some MLAs decided to rush to the Congress president with their complaints, he really could not stop them. Deshmukh may have got a breather yet back home in Mumbai, the party reacted sharply to the statement some Independent MLAs issued yesterday, rallying behind the CM and saying that a change in chief ministership may not be welcome. Terming it as ‘‘unfortunate’’, the Congress said it will not succumb to pressure tactics. ‘‘The Independents had extended support to the DF and not to a particular leader and their statement is unfortunate,’’ MPCC chief Govindrao Adik told reporters here, sending the message across that the party was keeping its options open.
