'Maha' blow to Congress: Ex-CM Ashok Chavan to join BJP today after quitting grand old party

Ashok Chavan, Maharashtra's former Chief Minister and former Congress strongman, is all set to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday. Chavan is expected to join the saffron party at around 12 pm at the Mumbai BJP office, his office said. 

Chavan resigned from the Congress on Monday in a shocker to the Congress and the opposition INDIA bloc. Chavan not only resigned from the primary membership of the grand old party but also as the MLA.

He sent his brief resignation letter to the state Congress chief Nana Patole as well as Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar. When asked about his decision to join the BJP, Chavan told reporters: "I have not yet made any decision to join the BJP, don't know their working system."

"Throughout my life, I have been a Congressman and have honestly worked for the party. I don't think every time we have to mention why I have left the party; this is my personal reason," he further said. 

The BJP is likely to offer Chavan a Rajya Sabha seat and 10-12 MLAs are also in touch with the former Maharashtra CM. The MLAs are expected to switch sides in due course, sources said.

Some Chavan loyalists including Amarnath Rajurkar, Jagdish Amin and the Mumbai district president also resigned from the party. The three joined the BJP in the presence of Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and BJP Mumbai president Ashish Shelar. 

Commenting on Chavan's resignation, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said "betrayers don't realise that their exit opens up vast new opportunities for those whose growth they have always stunted."

"When friends and colleagues leave a political party that has given them much—perhaps much more than they deserved—it is always a matter of anguish. But to those who are vulnerable, THAT Washing Machine will always prove more attractive than ideological commitment or personal loyalties. These betrayers don't realize that their exit opens up vast new opportunities for those whose growth they have always stunted," Jairam Ramesh wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

The departure of Chavan, son of former Maharashtra Chief Minister Shankarrao Chavan, comes after senior leaders Baba Siddique and Milind Deora left the party. At the national level, veteran congressmen like Acharya Pramod Krishnam and former Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar have also left the party in the recent past. 

Like his father, Chavan also served as the chief minister of the state from December 2008 to November 2010. In 2010, he had to step down from office for his alleged involvement in the Adarsh housing scam. Ashok Chavan fought from his stronghold Nanded in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections. 

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