Maharashtra: A day after joining BJP, Ashok Chavan named party candidate for Rajya Sabha polls

File photo/PTI

A day after Ashok Chavan quit the Congress party and joined the BJP in Mumbai, the saffron party has named him as party's candidate for Rajya Sabha polls from Maharashtra. Reports said that the BJP leadership has also named the incumbent party president JP Nadda as the party's candidate for Rajya Sabha polls from Gujarat.

On Tuesday, amid chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram', the state BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule inducted Chavan and his supporter, ex-MLC Amar Rajurkar at party headquarters in Mumbai. Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and a host of BJP leaders welcomed the two-time CM, who left the Congress after 38 years on Monday.

Expectedly, Chavan heaped praises on PM Narendra Modi for being the country's Vikas Purush. "It's a new beginning for me after 38 years. I want to contribute positively to the country's development under Modiji's leadership. I will abide by the policy and directives of the BJP. I worked with honesty in the Congress and I will do so for the BJP's political success," he told the media conference that followed his induction.

Chavan said that he had always enjoyed cordial relations across party lines. "I'm accused of being mild (when it comes to criticising political opponents), but then I have always followed the ‘maryada' (of healthy politics outside the house). When asked about his exit causing a split in the Congress in days to come, he said he had not invited others in the Congress to join him. "However, it is up to Devendra Fadnavis and other senior leaders to see what can be done about it (many more willing to join the BJP)."

Fadnavis said it was true that several leaders from the opposition parties desired to join the BJP. "Especially, the Congress has not been able to set its house in order. The party workers have no idea about the leadership's approach. When the Congress leadership ends up opposing the country's progress in the garb of opposing the BJP, the seasoned leaders join the mainstream like the BJP. The Congress leadership should introspect (instead of blaming the BJP for exodus)," added the DCM.

Reacting to Chavan's departure from Congress, the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) said that Chavan joining the BJP was not surprising, but rued that certain leaders who have the power and capacity to fight the saffron party are actually succumbing to its pressures.