The Shiv Sena decided to remove Health Minister Deepak Sawant as it's candidate from the Mumbai graduates legislative council constituency and replace him with Vilas Potnis. There were reports that Sawant had submitted his resignation to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray late on Monday.
Potnis is Sena's Vibhag Pramukh (division chief) from North Mumbai.
Sawant is a two-term legislator from the constituency, which was earlier represented by party veteran Pramod Navalkar. Sena sources said a formal announcement about Potnis' candidature is likely to be made on Tuesday.
There were reports that Sawant had sent his resignation to Uddhav and Fadnavis late on Monday and that the two had asked him to stay put in the cabinet for the time being.
Sawant could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.
A Shiv Sena leader said Sawant could either be dropped from the cabinet or asked to contest the legislative council elections in July from the State Assembly constituency, where Sena can get two of its nominees elected.
"Another likelihood is he may be asked to contest the State Assembly elections next year," he added.
