Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh had offered to resign in the wake of the deadly Mumbai terror attacks. Speaking to the media, he said, "In the Congress Working Committee meeting day before yesterday, I offered to resign. The party high command has not taken any decision on this so far but whatever they decide I will accept."

Countering attacks by the opposition party he stated that, "When attack on Parliament happened, BJP Home Minister did not resign. However, when attacks on Mumbai happened, our Home Minister resigned, therefore BJP has no right to say anything." He also informed all, about the resignation of the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister RR Patil, who had earlier described the Mumbai terror strikes as 'minor incident.' Mr Deshmukh said, "We have accepted the resignation of RR Patil.

Patil had sent a one-liner resignation. All he writes is that he is resigning." The Chief Minister was drawn into further controversy due to his visit to the terror-hit Taj Mahal hotel along with film producer Ram Gopal Varma and his actor son Reitesh. The issue was raised at the all-party meeting convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last night, which was also attended by Sonia Gandhi with some parties criticising the CM for his 'casual' attitude.

However, he also announced a number of reforms aimed at containing terrorism in the future. He said that a State Security Council will be set up soon to counter terrorism. The state government will also issue I-D cards to fishermen. He said that his government has placed fresh orders for speedboats for efficient patrolling of the state's coastal areas and state government would train people and deploy security personnel for safety at hospitals.

Furthermore he said, "We will form Maharashtra Security Guard on the lines of National Security Guard within four months." Meanwhile, it is believed that the names of Union Ministers Prithviraj Chavan and Sushil Kumar Shinde are doing the rounds to replace Deshmukh and sources say a decision on the successor's name was delaying Deshmukh's resignation.