‘Ganpati politics’ is in full swing in Maharashtra after former Chief Minister and senior Congressman Ashok Chavan’s ‘meeting’ with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at a Ganesha darshan has sparked renewed speculation about Mr. Chavan’s possible defection to the BJP.
According to sources, the two leaders met for nearly half-an-hour on Thursday during the Ganesha festivities at the residence of Ashish Kulkarni, who is Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Officer on Special Duty (OSD).
Speaking in Pune on Friday, Mr. Fadnavis categorically denied having a meeting with Mr. Chavan while clarifying that the Congressman was coincidentally present at the Ganesh darshan (at Mr. Kulkarni’s residence) at the same time as he was.
Mr. Chavan, on his part, has again dismissed the rumours of his joining the BJP as ‘baseless’ while stating that he would be participating in the upcoming ‘ Bharat Jodo’ rally in Delhi to be staged by the Congress.
“All suggestions of me joining the BJP are baseless. I coincidentally happened to be at Ashish Kulkarni’s place for Ganesh darshan when Mr. Fadnavis arrived. We had a cordial meeting in the presence of a number of guests,” said Mr. Chavan, implying there was no ‘closed door meeting’ as was being speculated.
Ever since Mr. Shinde’s intra-party rebellion split the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena while toppling Mr. Thackeray’s tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government (of the Sena, the NCP and the Congress), speculation has been rife about a major split within the Congress in Maharashtra.
According to sources, the impending second phase of the Cabinet expansion of the new government could well see a couple of senior Congress leaders get berths if they switched their allegiance to the BJP.
50 MLAs, including 11 independents and 39 Sena rebels, had joined Mr. Shinde to form a new government with Mr. Fadnavis’ BJP.
Rumours were rife about Mr. Chavan’s exit after he, along with 10 other Congress MLAs, did not cast their vote in the floor test of the newly formed Shinde-Fadnavis government last month, causing the MVA’s tally to fall to 99. An excuse given by most MLAs, including Mr. Chavan, was that they got stuck in Mumbai’s rush-hour traffic.
According to sources, Mr. Chavan’s exit would not be particularly surprising at this stage given that in the recent past, he was perceived to be ‘soft’ on the BJP in his capacity as the former Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) chief.
Meanwhile, current MPCC chief Nana Patole, commenting on speculations of Mr. Chavan’s possible departure, said they were rumours being planted by the BJP and the Shinde camp to spread confusion.
He further stressed that “no one was leaving the Congress camp” and that all MLAs stood united.
