Mumbai: The turnout at Gateway of India to pay homage to those who died in the terror attacks of last week turned out to be Vilasrao Deshmukh’s nemesis. Deshmukh’s ouster as chief minister had almost reversed, in spite of his Oberoi inspection with Ram Gopal Varma in tow, but the nearly two lakh who gathered to voice their protest against the system did him in.

After the news broke about the resignation offered by Deshmukh, his supporters and he engaged themselves in lobbying to save the kursi. His hour-plus meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday concluded with signals in favour of his retention. Deshmukh’s body language was such on Wednesday morning that officials and leaders who interacted with him that day felt that he had saved his chair. “He is a survivor and I thought he had done it again,” said a home department official who attended the meetings with him.

Sources very close to Deshmukh told DNA that he had convinced Sonia Gandhi how his resignation was not required, since union home minister Shivraj Patil’s resignation was replicated by the stepping down of his state counterpart, RR Patil.

In the Coastal Security review meeting held on Wednesday afternoon at Sahyadri, he even ordered the publicity department to issue an advertisement in all mainstream papers as a measure of damage control. A press conference was called for a media conference on Thursday afternoon (12.30pm) for a briefing on decisions taken regarding coastal security. Instead, he held a press conference at 10 am to announce his resignation.

However, sources claimed that the public outcry that showcased the disgust against the government and the system tilted the scales against Vilasrao Deshmukh. The after-effects of the spontaneous citizens’ rally was such that Rahul Gandhi met senior Congress leaders AK Antony and Pranab Mukherjee to express his discontent over the delay in change of Maharashtra leadership.

Source : DNA