This Article is From Nov 01, 2010

Mumbai: Bookies mint money as Chavan's fate hangs in balance

Mumbai: The Congress high command may take time to decide the state government's fate following the Adarsh society scandal, but bookies don't seem to be in a mood to wait. Bets are being placed, though the best bets are changing by the hour.

Some bookies in Surat reportedly began speculating on who will become the next chief minister, in case Ashok Chavan resigns, from 8pm on Saturday. "We were looking forward to the bets opening at 8am, but there was no feedback from the political fraternity till late evening," a bookie said.

The list of potential chief ministerial candidates had Sushilkumar Shinde and Prithviraj Chavan in the lead as the markets opened, but within 24 hours, Ashok Chavan, who did not even feature in the initial list on Saturday night, topped the list on Sunday, with his rate dropping from Rs 2.25 to Rs 1.15.

Shinde, who seemed to be the favourite, hit the market at 90 paise, which kept rising, and passed through 1.15, to hit 2.30 on Sunday night.

Chavan met the same fate, with his opening rate being 1.90, which improved on Sunday, and dropped to 1.80 through the day, but hit an unexpected high of 2.60 at night.

Vilasrao Deshmukh's chances of getting twice lucky may not be very bright, but he is a desirable bet for fourth position. On Saturday, bets were placed in his name at the rate of 3.75, which was better than Chavan, who was not even a contender. But by Saturday afternoon, Chavan was back, and rose to the top by Sunday night, while the rates for Deshmukh rose from 5.50 during the day to 6 on Sunday night.

The only consistent candidates have been Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, Mukul Wasnik and Narayan Rane, who were not in the picture till Saturday night.

On Sunday, Patil had bets placed at Rs 9, Wasnik at 11 and Rane 50. But the rates are fluctuating, getting modified mainly based on feedback from politicians and the media, the bookie said.

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