Chavan says don’t want to be in race of state cong chief

MUMBAI: Maharashtra Congress Legislature Party (CLP) met here on Thursday and authorised party president Sonia Gandhi to nominate their leader even as former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said he was not in the race for the post.

A one-line resolution moved by state party chief Manikrao Thakre authorising party president Sonia Gandhi to pick the CLP leader was adopted unanimously.

Earlier, leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, central observer for the election, met the legislators individually to ascertain their views on the new CLP leader.

“Kharge and Congress general secretary in charge of Maharashtra Mohan Prakash will discuss the feedback from legislators with the central leadership and then make an announcement,” Thakre said.

Thirty-nine of the 42 newlyelected MLAs and 22 MLCs attended the meeting. Three MLAs — Kalidas Kolambkar, Surupsingh Naik and Arif Mohammed Naseem Khan — could not attend, Thakre said.

Chavan, under fire from his rivals in the party following the drubbing in Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, said he was not in the run for CLP leader’s post.