Maharashtra assembly polls: I need to protect my constituency, Karad, first, says Prithviraj Chavan

BJP is able to spread its wing across the state through money, power, using CBI and enforcement directorate, he says

Prithviraj Chavan, former chief minister of Maharashtra and senior Congress leader, will highlight the lack of development in the state as the failure of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming assembly elections. But instead of raising the issues in the state, he will be focussing only on issues in Karad assembly constituency. Abhay Khairnar speaks to Chavan.

Prithviraj Chavan, former chief minister of Maharashtra and senior Congress leader. (HT FILE)

Despite being the former chief minister of Maharashtra your focus is only on Karad. Ideally, issues should be raised at the state-level. What do you have to say about it?

I need to protect my constituency first. Tomorrow, if something goes wrong then the media and others, would raise questions that we are not able to save our own forts. This assembly election is important for us and so we need to be alert about every move of the opposition. Once things are settled in my constituency in Karad, I can campaign in other parts of the state.

During your tenure as the CM of Maharashtra, your focus was to corner the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). How do you think is the Cong-NCP alliance faring?

In a span of just five years, BJP under the leadership of CM Devendra Fadnavis, has spread its wings across the state. Even in western Maharashtra, they have a strong base. Why is Congress not able to establish that connect?

BJP was able to spread its wing across the state through money, power, using CBI and enforcement directorate. Credit goes to BJP president Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They made strategies and Devendra Fadnavis and Chandrakant Patil executed it. Also, we accept our failure for not creating a strong network of Congress across the state. Instead of boosting the morale of workers, the Congress and NCP leaders thought that just by keeping a hold on some institutes, will bring them back to power. So, now we have learnt a lesson and are concentrating on connecting with the people.

The central leadership of Congress is seen nowhere in the picture ahead of the Maharashtra assembly elections. Why?

Jyotiraditya Scindia, the screening committee chairman for Maharashtra, and other senior leaders were present while distributing the tickets and during the seat-sharing talks. The role of central leaders is like an umpire or an observer. As everything is going smooth and there are no conflicts within the state leaders, they are not interfering. It is true that after facing defeat in the Lok Sabha elections, Sushilkumar Shinde and Ashok Chavan, were disturbed. But like I said earlier, we all have decided to stick to our forts and regions. In the second phase of the campaign, all the senior leaders will lead the campaign.

In Maharashtra, it is considered that institutional politics is important if anyone wants to stay in this field. Despite being in power, you never tried to set up a sugar factory or educational institute. Is there any specific reason behind the same?

It is true that many leaders prefer to form co-operative institutes to create their vote banks. If I would have followed their footsteps, I might not have reached Delhi and hence, I decided not to enter an organisational setup.