After Ashok Chavan's exit, Cong is banking on these 5 leaders in Maharashtra

Besides Ashok Chavan, the Congress has been hit by twin exits of Milind Deora and Baba Siddique in recent times

Former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan's resignation from the Congress has dealt a severe blow to the grand old party's plans for the upcoming 2024 election. Speculations are rife that he will join the Bharatiya Janata Party today, this day after the ex-Congressman said he will announce his plans in 48 hours.

Former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan.(PTI)

Besides Chavan, the Congress has been hit by twin exits of Milind Deora and Baba Siddique in recent times. As it gears up to fight the Lok Sabha elections with Maha Vikas Aghadi allies Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar's NCP faction, the Congress is now banking on these prominent leaders to give a tough fight to the saffron alliance in Maharashtra that accounts for 48 Lok Sabha seats.

Prithviraj Chavan: He succeeded Ashok Chavan, when the latter had to step down as the Maharashtra chief minister after being named as an accused in the Adarsh Housing Society scam. Prithviraj Chavan also served as a Union minister in the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government before taking over as the CM.

Balasaheb Thorat: He is currently the Congress Legislative Party leader in the Maharashtra assembly. Thorat served as the revenue minister in the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government that ruled the state from 2019 to 2022. An alumnus of Fergusson College in Pune, he has won eight assembly elections in his political career.

Nana Patole: He is a four-time legislator from Bhandara who also served as Maharashtra assembly speaker. Patole had defected to the BJP and had defeated NCP heavyweight Praful Patel in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. In 2017, he returned to the Congress and was appointed as Congress’s farmers’ wing chief. Patole was elected as an assembly member for the fourth time in 2019 and became the Speaker.

Vijay Wadettiwar: He is currently the leader of opposition in Maharashtra assembly since 2023. Wadettiwar hails from Chandrapur district of Vidarbha region of Maharashtra and has been a two-term legislator from Chimur assembly constituency. He started his political career as a National Student Union of India (NSUI) activist. Wadettiwar later joined Shiv Sena and was made a member of the Maharashtra legislative council (MLC). In 2005, he left the party, along with former chief minister Narayan Rane and joined Congress.

Varsha Gaikwad: The four-term Dharavi legislator is the first woman president of Mumbai Congress. Gaikwad had replaced Bhai Jagtap who was heading the unit since 2020. Having made her political in 2004, she was also a minister in the Congress-NCP government as well as the MVA government.