Chief Minister Ashok Chavan may have resigned because of allegations of him being involved in the Adarsh society scam,but Congress leaders said resentment against his style of functioning had been building up over a period of time. This,coupled with machinations by rivals camps within the party against him and the Adarsh issue,where flats were allocated to his relatives in the controversial society located in Cuffe Parade,is said to have led to his ouster just days after he completed a year in office in his second term. Chavan was caught in a power struggle with rivals in the party such as his predecessor and Union Heavy Industries Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Revenue Minister Narayan Rane,and Congress insiders said the rival camps had upped their ante against Chavan after the Adarsh controversy broke. This resignation was not only because of the Adarsh issue. There was dissatisfaction among ministers and MLAs over his behavior, said a Congress functionary,alleging that Chavans style of functioning had rankled many in his party and the NCP as he reportedly kept decisions on files sent by ministers pending apart from work in the constituencies of legislators. He added that though the decision to axe Chavan for irregularities in the Adarsh issue may have been taken earlier,the Congress high command may have decided to wait before announcing the move as it would have sent a wrong message of (US President Barack) Obama was received by a caretaker CM. The decision had to be taken in the intervening period between Obamas visit and the Parliament session, said another Congress leader and former legislator,adding that accepting Chavans resignation on the very first day of the session would have helped blunt the edge of the opposition. This was the pretext. There was some dissatisfaction. It seems no one (from the party high command) came forth to save him, the leader added. Congress leaders also discuss about how Chavan,who had to face a relatively weaker opposition Shiv Sena-BJP, was being seen as someone who was casual towards governance like his predecessor Vilasrao Deshmukh. The Deshmukh and Chavan camps had been at loggerheads since the last few months with Deshmukh confidant and MLC Ulhas Pawar raising the issue of why no action had been taken against party dissidents like Shalinitai Vikhe Patil,the wife of Transport Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil. Shalinitai had defeated Congress nominee Satyajit Tambe,the nephew of Agriculture Minister Balasaheb Thorat,who is a Deshmukh loyalist,to be elected as the president of the Ahmednagar zilla parishad.
