MUMBAI, NOV 25: Following a truce between him and Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Govindrao Adik has been unanimously elected president of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC).Since all the 48 nominations papers, including those proposed by Vilasrao Deshmukh, Murli Deora and former MPCC President Prataprao Bhosale were in his favour, he has been re-elected to the coveted post, according to Congress observer P J Kurien.Though Deshmukh was one of the proposers of Adik, his unanimous election is being viewed as a major setback for the Chief Minister, since his (Deshmukh's) supporters feel that the MPCC president had launched a vilification campaign against Deshmukh ever since the beginning of the election process.``We feel that it was the Adik camp, which wrongly briefed AICC president Sonia Gandhi on the performance of the Congress-led Democratic Front Government. Though its performance was satisfactory, it was informed to Sonia Gandhi that the Government was anti-minority and that it had not taken any steps for the welfare of the minorities, particularly Muslims,'' a senior Congress Minister said.Despite such a situation, at the instance of Adik, at a high-level MPCC meeting on November 23, Deshmukh proposed a resolution empowering Sonia Gandhi to nominate the MPCC President and it was seconded by Adik. In between, while Adik was making all possible efforts to ensure he gets re-elected, a section of the supporters of the Chief Minister were planning to field Transport Minister Shivajirao Moghe for two reasons. Firstly, Moghe belongs to the Scheduled Tribes and secondly, he belongs to the Vidarbha region. If the Congress high command had cleared the candidature of Moghe, it would have been a major setback for the on-going movement for separate Vidarbha launched by Agriculture Minister Ranjeet Deshmukh.Apparently following intervention of senior Congress leader S B Chavan as well as AICC general secretary Madhavrao Scindia, Deshmukh agreed to support the candidature of Adik on the ground that he will immediately halt the on-going vilification campaign against him. ``Since there was specific assurance, Deshmukh agreed for the nomination of Adik,'' the Minister added.On the other hand, Adik denied the charges, saying, he never complained to Sonia Gandhi on the performance of the Congress-led Democratic Front Government neither there was criticism of Deshmukh at the Chief Ministers' convened by Sonia Gandhi. ``In fact at the meeting, there was all praise for the performance of the state government,'' Adik said.Strengthening the organisation at the grassroots level and formation of the Congress government in the state is new agenda of Adik. ``We had successfully organised the Nirdhar Yatra all over the state and organisational camps in all the regions, now our aim is to implement the decisions taken in these camps in letter and spirit,'' Adik said.Adik said recent political developments in the country has once against established that there was no alternative to the leadership of Sonia Gandhi.
