Why Ashok Chavan may take the Rajya Sabha route

Giving the Congress another severe jolt in the ongoing exodus of leaders former chief minister Ashok Chavan resigned from the party and Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha on Monday It is being said that internal feuding in the Congress uncertainty about opportunities and growth especially of the next generationmdashhis twin daughtersmdashare among the reasons for Chavanrsquos big stepLast year Chavanrsquos daughter Shreejaya had hogged the limelight during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Nanded district The yatra was seen as the launchpad of his political heir If the father goes to New Delhi the daughter will take his place in the Bhokar Assembly constituencyChavan is the third senior leader of the state to quit the grand old party within a month His exit triggered serious talks of more Congress MLAs leaving the party ahead of the Assembly polls in October this year Former Congress leader Ashok Chavan addresses the media outside his residence PicPTIThough Chavan 65 was expected to join the Bharatiya Janata Party he said he would decide on the next move in a day or two His exit came ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections It was said the BJP had assured him a seat in the upper house Unconfirmed reports said BJP leader Amit Shah is scheduled to induct Chavan in the party at Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Aurangabad later this week The state BJP leadership did not say much about the development but Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis told reporters cryptically ldquoAage aage dekho hota hai kya watch what happens nextrdquoChavan was an MLA from Bhokar in Nanded district the region his father Shankarrao Chavan the twotime Maharashtra CM and Union home minister had nurtured Ashok Chavan represented Nanded one of the only two Lok Sabha seats the Congress could win from the state in 2014rsquos Modi waveResignation accepted immediatelyThe exCM who served as the Congress working committee was part of party activities till Sunday evening He handed his MLA resignation to Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Monday and later quit the party Narwekar accepted the resignation almost immediatelyWhen asked Chavan said it wasnrsquot time to call out anyone in the Congress for his resignation ldquoI worked honestly while I was in Congress Not everything is to be made publicrdquo he said hinting at his resentment that had been brewing for long In fact concurrent to the Shiv Sena split two years ago it was said that Chavan would quit and walk away with Congress MLAs On Monday he said he had not talked to the Congress MLAs about any such plan before resigning Then Chavan had ruffled feathers when he along with a dozen other party MLAs had arrived late for the trust vote of the ShindeFadnavis government in 2022 A month before this in the legislative council polls a Congress nominee who had been assured the top preference votes had lost because of crossvoting The Congress had appointed a panel to probe the incidentsTwo major upsets earlierBefore Chavan inflicted a blow the Congress had suffered two major upsets in January and February Senior leaders Milind Deora and Baba Siddique quit Deora joined the Shinde Sena and Siddique the NCP Ajit Pawar However people in the Congress said that whoever wishes to quit as the MLA should be doing so a little ahead of the Assembly elections ldquoOnly those who get assured of plum rehabilitation by the party they wish to join will move out It doesnrsquot make any sense for others who donrsquot have a good deal in hand yet to lose the precious few months of Assembly membership in the election yearrdquo said a senior Congress leaderSome linked Chavanrsquos resignation to the Adarsh housing scam which was mentioned in the white paper on the UPA regime The leader who had replaced Vilasrao Deshmukh as the CM in the wake of the 2611 terror attacks had to go after two years because of allegations in the Adarsh building case But the exCM denied it ldquoThe white paper has no connection to my resignationrdquo he saidBJP pressureCrying foul MVA leaders blamed Chavanrsquos move on the BJPrsquos pressure tactics They were unanimous in confirming the BJP as the exCMrsquos destination Uddhav Thackeray wondered whether the Election Commission could give Chavan lsquoownershiprsquo of the CongressIn response the state BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule blamed the Congress for the resignation ldquoThe party cannot resolve internal matters Why would any leader stay in the party that insults OBCs Who will stay with Rahul Gandhirdquo he said adding that he hadnrsquot received any proposal from Chavan especially about the Rajya Sabha seat Havan had ruffled feathers when he along with a dozen other party MLAs had arrived late for the trust vote of the ShindeFadnavis government in 2022 A month before this in the legislative council polls a Congress nominee who had been assured the top preference votes had lost because of crossvoting The Congress had appointed a panel to probe the incidents