Congress suffers a crushing blow ahead of Lok Sabha polls Former Maharashtra chief minister and senior Congress leader Ashok Chavan has resigned as the primary membership of the Congress and the post of member of the legislative assembly.
Reportedly Chavan was unhappy with the party.He is suspected to be joining the Bharatiya Janata Party soon.
According to reports, former chief minister Chavan had been unhappy with the party high command for some time now. Initially, he was denied the post of state president and now he has been denied a Rajya Sabha nomination. However, he was requested to contest from The Nanded Lok Sabha seat but he refused.
The former Maharashtra chief minister handed over his resignation to Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar at 11.24 am on Monday.He is also suspected to have been joined by 10 to 12 MLAs. Earlier, two senior Maharashtra Congress leaders, Baba Siddiqui and Milind Deora, had quit the Congress party.
Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said he had heard only from the media about Ashok Chavan Many senior Congress leaders are in touch with the BJP at the moment.
Ashok Chavan, who served as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra from December 2008 to November 2010, is considered one of the most influential Congress leaders in the state. He is also the son of former chief minister Shankarao Chavan. He held various party positions including the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary’s post.