Ashok Chavan’s daughter struggles to defend the family’s legacy
Sreejaya Chavan, the BJP candidate from the Bhokar assembly constituency, could pay a price for her father Ashok Chavan’s betrayal of the Congress
BHOKAR, NANDED: In a remote hamlet in Nanded district, a young, Mumbai-educated lawyer is urging young women to dream big. “I have practised in the Bombay High Court and believe that young girls here too can dream of becoming lawyers by taking advantage of schemes launched by the government.” Even Sreejaya Chavan, 32, daughter of former chief minister Ashok Chavan, knows her poll pitch is a stretch but it’s all she’s got.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Bhokar, Sreejaya is fighting to keep the Chavan legacy in Nanded alive. She is a third-generation politician and political heir of the Chavan family, which has represented Bhokar in the state assembly on six occasions. It elected Ashok Chavan in 2009 and 2019, and his wife in 2014. Ashok Chavan’s father and former chief minister Shankarrao Chavan represented the constituency in 1967, 1972 and 1978. But Sreejaya is on shaky ground.
Her opponent is Tirupati Kondhekar of the Congress, an ordinary party worker from a farmer’s family. Once a staunch supporter of her father, Kondhekar is being heartily backed by locals, who have raised ₹80 lakh for his election campaign. This doesn’t bode well for Sreejaya, who could pay a price for her father’s betrayal of the Congress.
After spending his entire political career in the Congress, Ashok Chavan joined the BJP in February this year and was elected to the Rajya Sabha. He was in charge of the Nanded Lok Sabha elections from where sitting MP Prataprao Chikhalikar was the BJP candidate. Chikhalikar was defeated by the Congress’s Vasant Chavan, but the defeat hurt Ashok Chavan more than it did the candidate. Voters here, who have always stood by the Congress, have not forgiven him for deserting the party.
Santosh Kulkarni, a local political analyst, said the election for Sreejaya is so challenging that her father has not been able to step out of the constituency. “He had undisputed command over the constituency for the last four decades and shouldered the responsibility of all the party’s candidates in the district. Now he is confined to campaigning in Bhokar and, despite being the star campaigner of the BJP, has not been able to campaign for the other candidates in the district or the state,” he said.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP lost the Nanded seat by 59,442 votes as the Marathas and Muslims backed Congress candidate Vasantrao Chavan, even though he was a political lightweight. The BJP’s loss was a resounding rejection of Ashok Chavan.
Now Kondhekar is reaping the benefits. “Just like in the Lok Sabha elections, this election too has turned into a movement. Voters have been contributing to my campaign and holding processions in bullock carts. They are happy that an ordinary farmer is their candidate. I had worked with Ashok Chavan and participated in his campaign rallies, but have never witnessed such a response,” he said.
In a constituency of 3.03 lakh voters, 1.2 lakh are OBC, 80,000 are Maratha, 48,000 Dalit, and 35,000 Muslim. Local BJP leaders said that Muslims, Dalits and Marathas had voted against the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls. Ashok Chavan has been meeting local Maratha and Muslim leaders, urging them to support his daughter’s candidacy. “It is true that people are upset with my decision to join the BJP but they have begun to accept it,” said Chavan.
Asked how he viewed Sreejaya’s chances, Chavan said, “We have taken corrective measures since the Lok Sabha elections, and I don’t think we should have a problem winning this seat. The equations in the Lok Sabha and assembly polls are very different and I am confident that people will vote for a highly qualified candidate.”