Vilasrao bids adieu with grace

MUMBAI: He left the battlefield like a wounded soldier. While bidding goodbye though, Vilasrao Deshmukh was graceful and composed like always, his body language suggesting that he would have liked to relinquish the post in a more honourable way.

Addressing his last press conference as Maharashtra chief minister, Mr Deshmukh looked a wiser man. ���It was a mistake. I feel sorry for it,��� he said, quite gracefully about his now much-criticised Taj terror tour with Bollywood director Ram Gopal Varma and actor son Reitesh.

Maharashtra���s two-time chief minister, and one of the longest serving too, has another regret ��� his government could not prevent the 26/11. ���People have suffered so much. Innocent people have lost their lives. People are genuinely anguished and we can only sympathise with them. I wish my government could have prevented all this. This regret will stay with me forever,��� said the outgoing CM.

But Mr Deshmukh, however, termed his decision to resign as his ���own��� taken out of a sense of moral responsibility and in response to the public outcry. ���My party did not ask me to step down. I have done it on my own,��� he said.

Mr Deshmukh also snubbed the NCP, saying that the Congress did not work under pressure from anybody. ���The NCP and Sharad Pawar have nothing to do with my resignation. Soniaji conveyed the party���s decision to accept my resignation much before Congress leaders met NCP leaders on Wednesday evening. The Congress has never worked under anybody���s pressure nor will it ever,��� he claimed.

Mr Deshmukh, 63, was generous in expressing his gratitude towards the Congress party. ���I have got much more than I wanted from the party. I was a villager holding the post of sarpanch but have come a long way, all because of my party. The Congress party and Soniaji have made me chief minister of this state twice,��� Mr Deshmukh added.

Just as he expressed his regrets, Mr Deshmukh also listed the achievements of the Congress-NCP government under his leadership. He rated Maharashtra���s numero uno position as the industrial and investment destination as the highlight of his tenure. Also, the state economy, which was in a state of turmoil during his first tenure, had stabilised.