A day after the terror attacks on Mumbai ended, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil who had been under fire for long over a spate of terror attacks in the country, resigned on Sunday.
His replacement is current Finance Minister P Chidambaram. However, Chidambaram will no longer hold the charge of the Finance Ministry. It will go to the Prime Minister.
NDTV has learnt that Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh may be next to go. But the CM has said there's no question of him quitting.
Intelligence Bureau director, Home Secretary and other bureaucrats may also be asked to quit.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil met Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and said that he would not resign from his post. Patil, after meeting Deshmukh at his official residence 'Varsha' in south Mumbai, said that there is no possibility of his resignation.
According to latest reports, some senior bureaucrats may also be asked to go, but no one's sure whose head is on the chopping block.
Earlier, Home Minister Shivraj Patil resigned owning moral responsibility for the Mumbai attacks that left almost 200 people dead and the entire nation angry over the latter part of this week.
The home minister has had a troubled stint right through the over four years of the Congress-led UPA regime, and there has been a clamour for his resignation every time there has been a terror attack in the country.
At the Congress Working Committee meeting on Saturday Sonia Gandhi took the lead in saying that irrespective of the elections there is a feeling that the government and the party must take responsibility.
Taking the cue, other senior leaders like Union Ministers P Chidambaram, Kamal Nath, Kapil Sibal and H R Bhardwaj attacked Patil, without naming him, saying somebody must be held responsible.
The refrain of these leaders at the meeting was that strong action is needed in the wake of the Mumbai terror strikes and accountability has to be ensured at the higher as well as lower levels.
Patil then offered to step down, saying he was ready for any decision the CWC took.
The home ministry under Patil has been criticized for not having acted upon Intelligence reports about the likelihood of a major terror attack much before the Mumbai siege happened.
Patil, who has been in public life for over four decades, was brought into the Manmohan Singh Cabinet as he was considered a complete Gandhi loyalist. Since his appointment, Sonia Gandhi had turned down repeated demands for his ouster from the government.
Patil was also one of the Congress' candidates for the post of President last year after the tenure of A P J Abdul Kalam got over. But, the Left parties, which were supporting the government from outside, had put their foot down.
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/mumbaiterrorstrike/Election_Story.aspx?ID=NEWEN20080074673&type=News
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