Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan resigned from the Congress on Monday, amid growing speculation that he might defect to the BJP.
Chavan stated in a brief resignation letter to State Congress president Nana Patole, “I am resigning from the primary membership of the Indian National Congress as of the afternoon of February 12”.
Speculations about Chavan leaving the party
Speculations about Ashok Chavan leaving the Congress party began in 2022, when he and seven other Congress MLAs were late for the trust vote against the Eknath Shinde administration in July of that year and were unable to enter the Assembly Hall to vote.
However, Chavan had never rejected the claims and stated that such a move was not in the works.
This is another loss for the party ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election, as previous Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique joined Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s NCP last Saturday, quitting the Congress after 48 years. Siddique quit from the party on Thursday (8th February).
Political career of Ashok Chavan
Ashok Chavan, the son of the late Shankarrao Chavan, former Union Minister and Chief Minister, made his political debut in 1986 when he was chosen general secretary of the Congress party’s Maharashtra branch.
Chavan was elected to the 8th Lok Sabha in 1987 and first appeared in the Maharashtra legislature in 1992, when he was elected to the legislative council for a six-year term as minister of public works, urban development, and home.
Chavan was elected to the Maharashtra Assembly in 1999 after winning the Mudkhed constituency and retaining it again in 2004. He then supported Bhokar, who won the seat in 2009 and 2019. In 2014, he successfully campaigned for his wife.
He was the minister of revenue, transport and industry before being named Chief Minister in 2008, following the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. He served as the state’s chief minister for more than a year until being forced to retire in 2010 when his name was linked to the Adarsh Housing scandal.
In 2014, he rebounded by winning the Nanded Lok Sabha seat as one of just two Congress candidates in the state to weather the ‘Modi wave’. Chavan lost his Nanded seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha election to BJP candidate Pratap Patil Chikhalikar.
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