New Delhi: The Mumbai terror attack claimed its most high profile victim yet with the Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh accepting the resignation of Home minister Shivraj Patil who steps aside from his position as the internal security affairs minister owning moral responsibility for the terror attack. Finance minister P Chidambaram now steps into Patil's shoes with the prime minister taking on finance as an additional charge.

With the finance and home ministries both located at the Lutyens-designed North Block, this will be a change of rooms for Chidambaram. With national elections a mere three months away it is not certain what Chidambaram is expected to achieve in this short period, but certainly he will be expected to impart a sense of reassurance to the governmnet and the country with his smooth professionalism.

Reports have named as National Security Advisor MK Narayanan, secretary (Home) and the director of the Intelligence Bureau as other high profile functionaries likely to follow Patil.

At the State level it is also being suggested that Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh may also be asked to leave; his deputy, RR Patil has already resigned (See: Maharashtra deputy CM RR Patil makes his exit). Like the other Patil in New Delhi, RR Patil was holding charge as home minister in the State cabinet.

Mumbai is the capital of the State of Maharashtra and also the financial hub of the country.

In public life for over four decades, Shivraj Patil was inducted into the Manmohan Singh Cabinet as a staunch Gandhi family 'loyalist.' This ensured his continuation in office even though he drew repeated criticism for his shoddy performance. To make matters worse he rapidly gained a reputation for serial dressing, an act of vanity that would become a public relations disaster for the government at the most inopportune of moments, such as the recent terror attack on the national capital New Delhi.

Patil's luck finally ran out on Saturday at a meeting of his party's central working committee (CWC) where he came under attack. The party is readying for national level elections, due in another three months, and the spate of recent terror attacks around the country have queered the pitch for the party.

Recently the political opposition in the country launched a concerted attack on the government for its repeated failures on security-related issues. Desperately fending off accusations that it was 'soft' on terror, the government had nowhere to hide with the massive terrorist attack on Mumbai.

Acting as the proverbial last straw on the camel's back the Mumbai attack stripped Shivraj Patil of his political immunity as a 'loyalist.' 

In a pointed gesture the prime minister omitted to invite Patil to a high-level security review on Saturday afternoon, attended by the three services chiefs, intelligence heads and key civil bureaucrats. At the CWC meet, later on in the evening, the knives were out and waiting for him when senior Congress party functionaries repeatedly asked that someone be held accountable for the non-performance on the security front. For Patil, the writing was on the wall.

He sent his resignation to the prime minister owning "moral responsibility" for the carnage at Mumbai, which was immediately accepted and forwarded to the president.

A subsequent Rashtrapati Bhawan communique announced the acceptance of Patil's resignation and the appointment of P Chidambaram as home minister. It also said the prime minister will hold the additional charge of finance.

An eminent lawyer, Chidambaram brings to the home ministry vast experience as a minister gained through various stints in the government at the Centre.

For the record, Chidambaram started as a deputy minister of personnel and training in 1985. He was minister of state for internal security from 1986 to 1989 when Rajiv Gandhi was prime minister. This was also the period of intense Sikh militancy.

He was made minister of state for commerce with independent charge in the Narasimha Rao government, where he teamed up with Manmohan Singh in the post-1991 economic reforms era.

Later, he held the finance portfolio in the United Front government under HD Deve Gowda and IK Gujral. He was entrusted the same responsibility when the Congress-led UPA came to power in 2004.