Ahead Of Big Meet, Sena's Shift On Maharashtra Home Minister | Read

Hours before Maharashtra's ruling Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress coalition was scheduled to meet today to decide the future of the state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's party brought down the temperature a notch on the matter. Despite former Mumbai police chief Param Bir Singh's allegations against the senior NCP leader, the Shiv Sena has questioned the need for his resignation if the key parties are open to the idea of probing the issue. A letter written to Mr Thackeray by the former top cop, accusing the Home Minister of corruption, had caused tension within the alliance, with NCP leader Sharad Pawar ruling out Mr Deshmukh's resignation even as the party left the decision to the Chief Minister. A senior leader of the state's ruling alliance had told NDTV earlier that the allegations were "serious" and that Mr Thackeray himself felt he must go. The coalition's crisis is linked to investigations into the discovery of an SUV carrying explosives on February 25 near industrialist Mukesh Ambani's home.