Ashok Chavan to join BJP today, likely to be nominated for Feb 27 RS polls

Former Maharashtra Congress MLC Amarnath Rajurkar is also expected to join the BJP along with Ashok Chavan at the party ‘s Nariman Point office in Mumbai on Tuesday

Former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan will join the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday, a day after he quit the Congress.

Ashok Chavan. (PTI)

Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule will be present at the party ‘s Nariman Point office in Mumbai during Chavan’s induction into the BJP.

Chavan is expected to file his nomination for the Rajya Sabha poll slated to be held on February 27. Former MLC and Congress leader Amarnath Rajurkar is also expected to join the BJP with Chavan on Tuesday.

Chavan had submitted his resignation as Bhokar MLA and primary member of the Congress on Monday, saying he would take a decision on further course of action in two days.

The 65-year-old served as the state’s chief minister for three years in the Congress-NCP government from December 2008 to November 2010. Hailing from Mumbai, Chavan began his ministerial journey in 1993 and resumed his position in 1999 under the Vilasrao Deshmukh government.

When Deshmukh resigned following the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, Chavan succeeded him as chief minister. Under his leadership, the Congress-NCP alliance secured victory in the 2009 assembly elections, extending their governance for a third consecutive term.

However, his term was cut short after a year due to allegations of his involvement in the Adarsh Housing Scam. Accusations arose concerning the improper allocation of housing units built on defence land intended for Kargil war heroes and other military personnel. It surfaced that Chavan’s wife Ameeta’s family had acquired three flats in the Cuffe Parade apartment complex. The case regarding the alleged impropriety in the Adarsh scandal is ongoing in court.

“Chavan was one of the handful of leaders in the party who have a strong mass base and can get a few candidates elected to the assembly. He was also a good organisation manager and had supporters in the party across Maharashtra. About half of the Congress’s current strength of 44 MLAs are on good terms with him,” a senior Congress leader who has worked closely with him told HT on Monday, following Chavan’s resignation from the party.

“It’s a major loss for the party. With him going, the party can say goodbye to at least two Lok Sabha seats and half a dozen assembly seats in the Marathwada region,” he added.