Mumbai, Mar 29 : Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on Sunday said that the Bollywood actor-turned-politician Govinda has expressed unwillingness to contest the upcoming general elections.

"Govinda has declined the offer to contest the Lok Sabha elections again," Chavan told reporters at State Congress party office here.

Govinda is the Congress MP from Mumbai North parliamentary constituency. He won the 2004 Lok Sabha elections from the constituency after defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Ram Naik.

New Delhi, Dec 12 : Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and Deputy CM Chhagan Bhujbal met Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh here today and reportedly discussed the security scenario in Maharashtra.

Talking to reporters, Chavan said that they briefed Dr Singh about the measures taken to strengthen security in the state in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks.

They also sought more central assistance for police reforms in the state, he added.

This was Chavan first visit to New Delhi after becoming Chief Minister on December 8.

Chavan is also scheduled to visit his hometown Nanded and Nagpur on Sunday.

New Delhi, Dec 12 : Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan will meet Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram here today.

This will be his first visit to New Delhi after becoming Chief Minister on December 8.

According to sources, he is also scheduled to visit his hometown Nanded and Nagpur on Sunday.

Chavan, an MLA from Nanded and son of former Union Minister S B Chavan, was elected a Member of the Parliament for the first time in 1987.

Chavan replaced Vilasrao Deshmukh who resigned from his post after the Mumbai terror attacks last month.

Mumbai, Dec. 8 : Ashok Chavan, the new Chief Minister of Maharashtra has reshuffled his cabinet soon after assuming office.

Chavan has dropped Minister of textiles Satish Chaturvedi , Minister of State for Labour Baba Siddiqui and Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Anil Deshmukh.

New faces in the cabinet include Naseem Khan from Kurla, Mumbai, Nitin Raut from Nagpur and Shobha Bachhao from Nasik.

The Congress quota in the cabinet however, still remains vacant as it was in Vilasrao Deshmukh’s regime.

Maharashtra Chief Minister designate Ashok Chavan and deputy Chief Minister designate Chhagan Bhujbal, along with several other cabinet and state ministers, will be sworn in on Monday. 

The swearing-in ceremony will be held at the Darbar hall of Raj Bhavan. 

According to official sources, no pandal has been erected for the ceremony, to be held at 1650 hrs, as the administration and both coalition partners -- Congress and Nationalist Congress Party – have appealed to their supporters to avoid celebrations, in the wake of the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai.  
Several rounds of consultations were held among the members of both parties to finalise the names of ministers, who would be sworn in.  

Mumbai, Dec 8: Ashok Chavan will be sworn-in as the 24th Chief Minister of Maharashtra today.

Besides Chavan, NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal along with several other cabinet and state ministers will also sworn-in at a ceremony to be held at Raj Bhavan here.

Though much changes are not expected in Chavan''s cabinet, NCP state unit president Arun Gujarathi and brother of outgoing chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Dilip Deshmukh are expected to be inducted in the ministry with cabinet rank.