The ruling coalition partners Congress and NCP have ruled out any “change of guard” in Maharashtra in the wake of Revenue Minister Narayan Rane’s outburst against the Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.

Union Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, whose name was taking rounds as a possible successor of Deshmukh after Rane accused the Chief Minister of “non-performance and failing the people of the state”, dismissed the reports as speculation.

“Deshmukh is doing a fine job in the state. I am happy with my present assignment at the Centre.

The question of change of guard does not arise,” Shinde said on the sidelines of a function here last night.
Chhagan Bhujbal, an NCP minister in the Democratic Front coalition government, also denied the possibility of a change in power equations in Maharashtra and said nothing should be read out of the meeting between Pawar and Sena chief Bal Thackeray in Mumbai last week.

Talking to reporters here last night after a function, Bhujbal said both the parties were poles apart ideologically as explained by Thackeray himself.

Reacting to Rane’s tirade against Deshmukh in which he accused the Chief Minister of implementing a personal agenda while running the government, Bhujbal said the tussle between Deshmukh and Rane is an internal matter of Congress.

“But I do not subscribe to the view that the government decisions were a matter of Deshmukh’s personal whims and fancies,” he said.

Chhagan Bhujbal made an oblique reference to Narayan Rane’s chief ministerial ambitions and said that everybody knew the reasons behind his unhappiness over Deshmukh’s functioning which he sought to convey to Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi.