The race for chief ministership hotted up in Karnataka on Friday as two senior Congress leaders virtually threw their hat into the ring, a day after the party coasted to a spectacular victory in the assembly polls. With the Congress legislature party (CLP) meet scheduled for October 10 to elect its leader, former railway minister CK Jaffar Sharief did not rule out the possibility of his being in the race even while maintaining that he was not a aspirant "as on today". Questioned if he was ready to accept the responsibility of chief ministership, he shot back, "You ask any layman. Let him say no (to CM's post). It is human nature." "If the CLP and the high command so decide ... Wherever the party wants me to work, I will work," Sharief, who was elected to the Lok Sabha for the seventh time, said. KPCC president SM Krishna, who spearheaded the party's splendid win from 132 seats giving it a comfortable majority, remained non-committal on the leadership issue.

Mithi set to become Arunachal CM

Fresh from a resounding victory in the Arunachal assembly, chief minister Mukut Mithi was all set to be re-elected leader of the Congress legislature party on Sunday paving the way for his return at the helm of affairs. APCC president Dera Natung told reporters in Itanagar on Friday that Mithi was the only choice for the post of CLP leader for his dynamic leadership. The new ministry would be formed the next day, he said. Mithi, who was elected unopposed as a member of the new House, led his party to a landslide victory with Congress bagging both the Lok Sabha and 53 of the 60 Assembly seats, crowning his strategic decision to break away from Gegong Apang's Arunachal Congress and returning to the parent party.

No dismissal of Rabri govt: JD(U)

Defence minister George Fernandes on Friday said there was no need now for demanding dismissal of the RJD government in Bihar. "Assembly elections in the state are due in march and the Rabri Devi government will be finished on its own," he told reporters when asked if his party would make a fresh demand for imposition of President's Rule in the state. Fernandes said RJD and its allies would be routed in the state in the next assembly elections. Another JD(U) leader Ramvilas Paswan said NDA would not take any initiative to topple the Rabri Devi government in Bihar as it was destined to "die a natural death".

Munde elected BJP leader

Outgoing deputy chief minister of Maharashtra Gopinath Munde was elected as the leader of the BJP legislative party. His name was proposed by Arun Adsad and former state finance minister Mahadev Shivankar and seconded by Raj Purohit and Prakash Jawdekar. Munde later thanked his party legislators for electing him as the leader of the legislative party and said: "We must accept the fact that the party has fared poorly in the Vidhan Sabha elections. It has lost as many as 24 of its seats while 23 new MLAs have come to the assembly."

CPI(M) reviews post-poll scene

CPI(M) politburo on Friday met in New Delhi to review the post-poll scenario in the country and chalk out its strategy in the wake of the BJP-led NDA getting a majority in the 13th Lok Sabha. The two-day meeting, being attended among others by general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet and West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu, also began a review of the party's performance in the elections. Emerging from the meeting, Basu said the election results were discussed, but refused to divulge the details.

Mahanta to stay put

The ruling AGP on Friday dismissed as "frivolous" the Congress' demand for resignation of Assam chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta in the wake of the AGP's debacle in the recent Lok Sabha elections. "This is unbecoming of a party that was over hundred years old but failed to contribute to the development of the state and the north-east", AGP publicity secretary Moidul Islam Bora said in Guwahati. Congress had links with banned outfits and was trying to divert attention by making such demands, Bora claimed. Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president Tarun Gogoi had asked Mahanta to step down owning responsibility for the AGP's dismal performance in LS poll and seek fresh mandate.