Krishna ‘exiled’ to Mumbai

A month back, Maharashtra saw a reluctant Sushilkumar Shinde moving to Andhra Pradesh as Governor after losing his Chief Ministerial chair. ...

A month back, Maharashtra saw a reluctant Sushilkumar Shinde moving to Andhra Pradesh as Governor after losing his Chief Ministerial chair. Now, the State will have a reluctant Governor at Raj Bhavan.

S M Krishna, who stepped down as Karnataka Chief Minister a few months back, was not keen to come to Mumbai as Governor of Maharashtra.

‘‘In fact, he was interested in heading the Karnataka unit of Congress so that he could retain his stakes in the state’s politics,’’ said sources close to Krishna.

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At one time, Krishna—along with MP ex-CM Digvijay Singh—was one of the main contenders for the post of Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission.

Following a fractured mandate, Krishna could not get a second term, thanks to his party’s post-poll alliance partner, the Janata Dal (S). Now, the Congress has rehabilitated him as Governor of Maharashtra.

Krishna’s equations with Deshmukh are quite good. The latter was in charge of Congress affairs in Karanataka during the Assembly polls there.

‘‘We welcome the appointment of Mr Krishna. He is a nice person and with his vast experince in the IT sector, Maharashtra stands to benefit a lot,’’ said Deshmukh on Krishna’s appointment. Krishna was in China on a visit to a university. The date for his swearing-in has not been fixed yet.