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Exit Patnaik

Bibhuti Mishra in Bhubaneshwar

Giridhar Gomango or Hemananda Biswal.

Or it may be a third -- but certainly another tribal Congressman.

Expectedly, the hunt is for a successor to Orissa Chief Minister Janaki Ballab Patnaik, whose resignation Governor C Rangarajan accepted promptly Friday morning. The ruler will be finalised at the Congress Legislature Party meeting, tentatively scheduled at 1600 hours, on Sunday.

And whoever it is, it would be an adivasileader -- for, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi insists so, according to sources.

The two names that are doing the rounds are that of tribal leader Gomango and Deputy Chief Minister and Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee chief Biswal.

All India Congress general secretaries Madhavrao Scindia and Pranab Mukherjee will be the observers at the meeting, party general secretary Oscar Fernandes announced in New Delhi.

Realising that his was a hopeless case, Patnaik had ordered his followers not to try change the Congress high command's mind about the demand for his resignation. However, he now maintains that the idea of quitting was his, not Sonia's.

"I was under no pressure. I took the moral responsibility for whatever had happened in Orissa over the last few days. I had a talk with the Congress president and told her of my wish to resign. I was working for 18 hours a day. Now I can rest!" he told newsmen.

Asked about his chances to step in as chief minister, Biswal said he would do the high command's bidding, even if it was do a peon's duty. And if it wanted him to step in as chief minister, well...

'The high command decides everything," he said, "All of us are disciplined soldiers. We have to carry out (the orders)."

Former CM Nandini Satpathy, however, is not as impressed with Delhi as Biswal. "I feel there should be a contest. The legislators have a right to choose their leader; he should not be imposed on them," she said, adding, "If there is a contest I am in the fray."

Meanwhile, in a parallel development that could significantly affect Patnaik's future, the Orissa high court Friday permitted the Central Bureau of Investigation to proceed with the legal action in the Anjana Mishra case. The judgement followed a CBI report on former director general of police A B Tripathy's affidavit that had clearly implicated Patnaik.

The high court also stayed the P K Mishra Commission, instituted by the state to probe Mishra's gang rape. This indicates that the case may be transferred to the CBI as Mishra wants.

RELATED REPORT:
Patnaik submits resignation to Governor Rangarajan

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