Chavan's Patil doing well as home minister

Making a U-turn, Prithviraj Chavan said he had full faith in  Nationalist Congress leader and Home Minister  R R Patil. He also stressed that the latter was doing well. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which shares power in Maharashtra with the Congress party, had earlier reacted strongly to Chavan’s remark on Patil and almost demanded the chief minister’s post  from the ruling party.  The party’s state unit chief Madhukar Picchad said that his party was ready to give up the Home portfolio, if the Congress gave it the post of the CM.

On Friday, the chief minister told a private television channel: “I think it (giving Home portfolio to the NCP) was a mistake and we should have re-looked at it. I do not know of any other coalition government where the Home, Finance and Planning portfolios are not with the chief minister”. Chavan’s comment after the Wednesday’s serial explosions once again brought the state home minister and  R R Patil under attack, not only from the opposition BJP and Shiv Sena, but also from members of the state cabinet.

Reacting to the Chavan’s remark on Friday that the decision-making gets delayed because the he does not hold the Home, Finance and Planning portfolios, Picchad said the chief minister, being the head of the state government, could take any decision about any department. He later also told a TV channel that his party was ready to go solo if the Congress wanted to snap ties with it.