Thakre joins Cong race for CM post

With exit polls giving a clear edge to the Congress-NCP alliance over the Shiv Sena-BJP combine in the Assembly elections,the race for...

With exit polls giving a clear edge to the Congress-NCP alliance over the Shiv Sena-BJP combine in the Assembly elections,the race for the next Chief Minister is gathering pace among Congressmen. The latest to join the fray has been Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee MPCC chief Manikrao Thakre,who assumed office in August 2008.

Thakre is projecting himself as the person who improved the partys prospects ever since he took over a year ago, a senior Congress leader said. He has claimed that under his leadership in the state,the party won 17 out of the 48 seats in the recent Lok Sabha elections and would get a clear majority in the Assembly.

Thakre has joined leaders like Ashok Chavan,Narayan Rane and Patangrao Kadam in staking claim for the top job in the state. Vilasraos name is also being discussed,but he is not very keen on returning to the state as the chief minister. He would rather remain in Delhi and allow his son,Amit who is a candidate from Latur to grow in state politics, he said. But,we dont know whom the high command will choose. If Vilasrao is asked to return to the state,he will have no choice.

Sources said veteran Congressman and Revenue Minister Patangrao Kadam,and Narayan Rane were also strong contenders for the post. Rane,who had openly criticised and attempted to destabilize Deshmukh and had later lambasted the partys decision to replace Deshmukh with Chavan after 26/11,is keen on getting the post. Rane was the chief minister during the Sena-BJP regime and has claimed that the Congress high command had promised to make him chief minister within six months,when he had switched over to Congress in 2005. Meanwhile,Kadam has been harping on his seniority,sources said,and wants the party to give him the post.

Chavan is in Delhi to meet senior leaders,and is keen on another term,on the ground that he handled his office well after 26/11 and remained non-controversial.

Thakre,who took over from Prabha Rau,a Deshmukh detractor,last year,was from the Deshmukh camp,but gradually made peace with Chavan and Rane. He has remained non-controversial and has tried to pacify the warring groups within the party. Sources said he claimed that his organised networking over the past year had led to the improvement in the partys poll prospects in the Lok Sabha polls and it would be repeated in the Assembly polls.