Mumbai, Nov 9: Senior Congress leaders Pranab Mukherjee and A K Antony arrived here on Tuesday night from Delhi and would be meeting Congress legislators to elicit their opinion on choosing a successor to Ashok Chavan who resigned as Maharashtra chief minister.

Mukherjee and Antony, Congress observers, were received at the city airport by Ashok Chavan, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee chief Manikrao Thakre and Mumbai Regional Congress Committee chief Kripshankar Singh.

They later drove to Vidhan Bhavan where they would be meeting Congress leaders.

Following Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan's submission of resignation to the Governor today in the wake of the Adarsh Housing Society scam, speculation is rife over his successor, with names of a few central and state party leaders doing the rounds.

Names of Maharashtra agriculture minister Balasaheb Thorat, Union ministers prithviraj Chavan and Mukul Vasnik as well as Vilasrao Deshmukh are in the reckoning, Congress sources said.

In case the high command vetoes Vilasrao's candidature as his name also figured in the scam, he is all set to back Thorat, who enjoys clean image in the state politics, sources said.

Thorat has been an MLA since 1985, a cabinet minister for last 11 years, a staunch loyalist of Congress and Gandhi family and a leading figure in state co-operative movement.

Vasnik, senior Congress leader from Vidarbha region, has credentials of Gandhi family loyalist and confidante, a Dalit, and also an organisation man with clean image, they said.

Names of Prithviraj Chavan, known as a staunch opponent of NCP chief Sharad Pawar in western Maharashtra, and Union Minister Sushilkumar Shinde who is a Dalit, are also being discussed.