Chavan was welcomed into the party by Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and State BJP President Chandrashekhar Bawankule. Chavan claimed that he had joined the BJP to push for developmental activity and also because he was inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s work.
Chavan had resigned on Monday from the Congress party and also resigned as an MLA.
“One of the senior most leaders in the state has joined us, because of his entry, our grand alliance has been strengthened. We welcome him. Ashok Chavan just told us that he wanted an opportunity to work with a leader like Modi ji and he didn’t want any post.” said Fadnavis at a press conference to welcome Chavan.
He added, “It is true that some more leaders (from the opposition) are in touch with us. Those who are connected on the ground (mass leaders) we will welcome them.”
Ashok Chavan said that he always has been taking a positive attitude over developmental activities and hence he had joined the BJP.Referring to criticism from the Uddhav Thackeray group that he was embroiled in the Adarsh housing scam, Chavan said, “ The High Court has ruled in our favour, the agencies have appealed against this. I have faced enough of that, I don’t think there is too much into it(anymore). It was a political accident.”Earlier in the day Chavan went to the State BJP headquarters where he was welcomed by senior BJP leaders Girish Mahajan, Ashish Shelar and other leaders.
Prior to entering the BJP on Tuesday, Chavan when asked by reporters whether he had spoken to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, said, “ Leave that now, that chapter is over.”
Chavan’s entry into the Bharatiya Janata Party would make the Rajya Sabha polls for Maharashtra interesting as the BJP has given indications that Chavan could be one of its nominees for the Rajya Sabha polls from Maharashtra. The BJP has indicated that the the BJP-Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party alliance would contest in all the six Rajya Sabha seats that would be held on February 27th. The BJP plans to contest in four seats when it has numbers only for three, with Chavan’s candidature it is planning for a split in the Congress votes.
The Congress is taking stock of the situation with Congress leader and Maharashtra in charge Ramesh Chennithala set to meet Nationalist Congress Party President (Sharad Pawar).
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