Congress gearing up to topply (Maharashtra) government - Times of India News Service

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With the United Front government now on the verge of being
installed at the Centre, the Maharashtra unit of the Congress is
making subtle moves to dislodge the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya janata
Party ministry which is dependent on the support of independent
MLAs for its survival.

There are 44 independent MLAs, most of whom are rebel
Congressmen. The Sena has 73 MLAs while the BJP has 64 in a
288-
member house.

However, with three alliance MLAs getting elected to the Lok
Sabha, their seats in the assembly will fall vacant. Thus the
strength of the alliance will be reduced to 134. The government
will be in deep trouble if the Congress succeeds in winning over
the independents to its side.

Leader of the opposition in the state legislative council Chhagan
Bhujbal held a closed-door meeting with about 20 independent
MLAs
in a bid to woo them back to the Congress.

There isconsiderable resentment among these legislators following
the summary dismissal of two inde- pendent ministers,
Babasaheb
Dhabekar and Sunil Kedar, recently by chief minister Manohar
joshi. These ministers were sacked because they had allegedly
supported Congress nominees in the recent Lok Sabha polls.
Most
of the independents are rebel Congressmen.

Alarmed at the moves being made by the Congress, Mr joshi
rushed
to Mahableshwar this morning to meet Shiv Sena chief Bal
Thackeray and hold consultations. He is also belived to have
discussed plans for reshuffling his ministry.

While Independent minister Harshawardhan Patil, whose uncle
Shankarrao Bajirao Patil had contested against Sharad Pawar in
Baramati, is on firm ground, two other ministers Ashok Patil
Dongaonkar and Anil Deshmukh are on tenter hooks. Aliiance
leaders reportedly wanted to take action against Mr Dongaonkar
and Mr Deshniukh, but they deferred the move in view of the
changed political atmosphere in Delhi.

With as many as 20 independents attending the meeting convened
by
Mr Bhujbal, which was held at a secret location, alliance leaders
concede that unless they move cautiously, the situation may get
complicated.

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