Mumbai, Feb 13: Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Speaking to mediapersons, Chavan said that he is happy to start his new political innings with the BJP from now.
“I will join the BJP in the presence of state President Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and Ashish Shelar,” said Chavan yesterday.
He is likely to be nominated as a BJP candidate for the upcoming biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra.
Chavan, dropped a bombshell when he abruptly quit the Congress Party and also as Bhokar MLA, with which he was associated for over 40 years.
However, Monday he remained in a denial mode about his future political plans which he said he would announce in a couple of days.
Taking a swipe at the BJP-led NDA government in the state after former chief minister and Congress leader Ashok Chavan resigned from the party, Shiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray questioned whether the ruling party was suffering from ‘low self-confidence’ ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in the state. Expanding on his claim about the ruling NDA in the state, the former CM questioned why it felt the need to poach leaders from the Opposition camp unless it was nervous and feared defeat in the upcoming general elections. While Chavan resigned as an MLA and also announced his exit from the Congress, dealing a further blow to the INDIA bloc and the Opposition unity, he stopped short of opening up on his future political course. However, the Sena (UBT) Supremo claimed that the former CM could be linking his lot with the BJP. Addressing a rally at Sambhajinagar (formerly Aurangabad) on Monday, Uddhav went all guns blazing at the BJP, saying it wouldn’t have felt the need to split the Opposition combine–Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA)–and lure leaders away to its fold if it had worked for the people during its decade-long rule at the Centre. “PM Narendra Modi recently said in Parliament that the BJP will secure a thumping majority (in the Lok Sabha elections). If so, then why lure leaders away from Opposition parties? If they are so confident of going ‘400-paar’ in the upcoming elections, why poach leaders from the Opposition camp?’
‘ They took Nitish Kumar in Bihar and Ashok Chavan, Ajit Pawar, and (CM Eknath) Shinde here. If they had worked sincerely for the people in the 10 years (at the Centre), the BJP would not have had to break the Opposition. Is the BJP’s self-confidence so low ahead of the general elections?’ Uddhav said.