Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan to focus on development to win Assembly polls

MUMBAI: Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has created ministerial groups with four MLAs each, to speed up clearance of files related to policy matters and development works, sources said here today.

The decision was taken at a meeting last night called by Chavan to prepare and strategise a plan of action with an eye on the crucial Maharashtra Assembly elections in October this year.

Each minister has been given responsibility of four to five Assembly constituencies, sources said.

Senior ministers Patangrao Kadam and Narayan Rane, whose sons Vishwajit and Nilesh lost Pune and Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg Lok Sabha seats respectively, were also present.

Sources said that the ministers have decided to unitedly rally around each other in order to try and improve the electoral prospects of the Congress, which suffered a humiliating defeat in the recent Lok Sabha polls, managing to win merely two of the 27 seats which it had contested.