Mumbai: Former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan is likely to file a Rajya Sabha nomination on Wednesday as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate. A day after quitting the Congress, Mr Chavan joined the BJP in the presence of deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. The Congress is expected to easily win one of the six Rajya Seats from Maharashtra. The BJP is expected to win three seats while the Shiv Sena and NCP will win a seat each. However, if the BJP decides to field the fourth candidate, the Congress candidate could come in trouble in light of Mr. Chavan’s exit from the party.
Mr. Chavan said he will not poach any other MLA from the Congress. However, Mr. Fadnavis indicated that more Congress leaders will soon follow Mr. Chavan.
After Mr. Chavan’s resignation, the Congress has 42 members in the Maharashtra legislative assembly, which is enough to secure a Rajya Sabha seat. However, Congress is worried about the possible cross-voting. According to sources, at least 10 Congress MLAs are Mr. Chavan’s loyalists and they could sabotage the Congress candidate.
Congress’s Maharashtra in-charge Ramesh Chennithala said that the Congress candidate will also get the support of the Shiv Sena UBT (16 MLAs) and the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP (10-13 MLAs). “If the MLAs cross-vote, they will be expelled from the party for six years and also face disqualification. We have the numbers. With the Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray’s support, we will together fight the Rajya Sabha polls,” Mr. Chennithala said.
Mr. Chavan joined the BJP in a function held at BJP’s state headquarters in Mumbai. “I have joined the BJP with the wish to contribute to the development work of the central government led by Narendra Modi. It is an unconditional move without asking for any post. It is a new innings for me after working in Congress for 38 years,” he said.
The former CM also said that his decision to join the BJP was not taken overnight and he was considering the move for some time.
Mr. Fadnavis said that Mr. Chavan has not put any conditions before joining the party and he only wanted to contribute to India’s development under the leadership of Mr. Modi. When asked if Mr. Chavan will get the Rajya Sabha ticket, Mr. Fadnavis said, “The decision about Rajya Sabha nominations will be taken by the party’s central leadership.”
Mr. Chavan was reportedly upset with Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole, but his complaints were ignored by the Congress high command. Mr. Chavan said it was a painful decision to quit Congress, but refused to elaborate on the reasons behind it. “Let bygone be bygone. I am starting a new inning in the BJP on a positive note. I do not want to talk about negative things that happened in the past,” he said.
However, former Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam said that Mr. Chavan was not happy with the working style of a state leader. “Mr. Chavan had informed the top leadership from time to time. Had his complaints been taken seriously, this situation would not have happened,” Mr. Nirupam said.
