Former Congress chief Ashok Chavan addresses the media exterior his residence, at Churchgate, in Mumbai.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Senior Congressman and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan’s resignation from the party, coupled with the spectre of a possible Congress cut up in Maharashtra, has solid a shadow on the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections in the State, whilst Congress leaders denied Mr. Chavan’s exit would impression the polls slated for February 27.
While senior Congressman Prithviraj Chavan and Solapur legislator Praniti Shinde claimed that the Congress’s flock in Maharashtra remained united, BJP State president Chandrashekhar Bawankule mentioned there was no want for his social gathering to separate the Congress in order to win the sixth Rajya Sabha seat in the State.
Of the six seats in Maharashtra, the BJP — with 104 MLAs (in the 288 legislator Assembly) — will stake declare to a few, whereas its allies in the federal government — the Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena — will declare one every seat every. The Eknath Shinde-led faction has 39 legislators whereas the Ajit Pawar-led NCP claims to have 41 MLAs. The Shinde faction, in addition to the BJP, even have the help of quite a few Independents.
While the Congress, the social gathering with the most important energy (43 MLAs) in the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) was anticipated to comfortably win the sixth Rajya Sabha seat, Mr. Chavan’s exit and rumours that different MLAs could comply with go well with have solid a cloud on the social gathering’s hopes.
“Nobody is going with Ashok Chavan. These [other Congress MLAs quitting] are mere rumours spread by the BJP,” mentioned Mr. Prithviraj Chavan.
Remarking that Mr. Ashok Chavan had taken an unlucky determination “out of despair”, Praniti Shinde — the daughter of former Union Minister and Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde — mentioned he was underneath strain from the ED and the BJP’s “blackmail tactics”.
“I do not think Mr. Chavan’s exit will impact the Congress’s fortunes in the Rajya Sabha elections. The BJP is trying to portray the Maharashtra Congress as an unstable party but we are strong. These are the BJP’s tactics of pressure and blackmail. Mr. Ashok Chavan was under great stress because of the mind games being played by the BJP,” she alleged.
Even earlier than he submitted his resignation on Monday, rumours about Mr. Ashok Chavan’s exit had surfaced inside the Congress social gathering.
In August 2022, following Mr. Shinde’s revolt and the fall of the MVA, Mr. Ashok Chavan and ten different Congress MLAs didn’t solid their vote in the ground check of the newly shaped Shinde-Fadnavis authorities. This had triggered the MVA’s tally to fall to 99. An excuse given by most MLAs, together with Mr. Ashok Chavan, was that they obtained caught in Mumbai’s rush-hour visitors.
Meanwhile, stating there was raging factionalism inside the Maharashtra Congress, Mr. Bawankule clarified that there was no proposal as but to ship Mr. Ashok Chavan to the Rajya Sabha if he had been to affix the BJP in the approaching days.
“While anybody who wishes, joins the BJP after admiring PM Modi’s resolution for a progressive India is most welcome, there is no proposal as yet that Mr. Chavan would be joining us, or will be sent to the Rajya Sabha if he comes over to us,” he mentioned. He added that the BJP already had the energy to win three seats.
“I do not think there will be much of a contest in the RS polls in the State. The BJP has the numbers to win three seats, the Eknath Shinde camp and Ajit Pawar’s NCP have the numbers to win one seat each. The Congress can win the remaining seat by taking support from Sharad Pawar-led NCP and Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena (UBT),” Mr. Bawankule mentioned.
In 2022, days earlier than Mr. Shinde’s revolt, the Maharashtra BJP led by Mr. Fadnavis had rattled the tripartite MVA by reaching a shock victory on the hotly-contested sixth Rajya Sabha seat in the State. The BJP’s Dhananjay Mahadik narrowly beat the Sena’s (MVA’s) candidate, Sanjay Pawar, by two votes — 41 votes to 39.
