The Congress party on Wednesday night accepted the resignation of Maharashtra [ Images ] Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh [ Images ] in
the wake of Mumbai terror attacks [ Images ] even as there was no clarity on who his successor will be with a bunch of names including Union minister Sushil Kumar [ Images ] Shinde and state minister Narayan Rane [ Images ] emerging as contenders.

The announcement of the acceptance of the 63-year old chief minister's resignation from came from senior Congress
leader and Defence Minster A K Antony after party chief Sonia Gandhi [ Images ] held yet another round of consultations with senior leaders.

Congress' central observers will be in Mumbai on Thursday and a new leader will be chosen thereafter.

The terror attacks earlier took the political toll of Union Home Minster Shivraj Patil [ Images ] and R R Patil [ Images ] as deputy chief minister of Maharashtra who owned moral responsibility for failing to avert the terror attacks.

The names of Shinde and Prithviraj Chavan [ Images ] as also Maharashtra minister Ashok Chavan [ Images ] are also doing the rounds for the top job while a section of the party also feels that former state minister Govindrao Adik is also an aspirant.