Senior Congressman and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan’s resignation from the party, coupled with the spectre of a potential Congress split in Maharashtra, has cast a shadow on the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections in the State, even as Congress leaders denied Mr. Chavan’s exit would impact the polls slated for February 27.
While senior Congressman Prithviraj Chavan and Solapur legislator Praniti Shinde claimed that the Congress’s flock in Maharashtra remained united, BJP State president Chandrashekhar Bawankule said there was no need for his party to split the Congress in order to win the sixth Rajya Sabha seat in the State.
Of the six seats in Maharashtra, the BJP — with 104 MLAs (in the 288 legislator Assembly) — will stake claim to three, while its allies in the government — the Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena — will claim one each seat each. The Eknath Shinde-led faction has 39 legislators while the Ajit Pawar-led NCP claims to have 41 MLAs. The Shinde faction, as well as the BJP, also have the support of a number of Independents.
While the Congress, the party with the largest strength (43 MLAs) in the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) was expected to comfortably win the sixth Rajya Sabha seat, Mr. Chavan’s exit and rumours that other MLAs may follow suit have cast a cloud on the party’s hopes.
“Nobody is going with Ashok Chavan. These [other Congress MLAs quitting] are mere rumours spread by the BJP,” said Mr. Prithviraj Chavan.
Remarking that Mr. Ashok Chavan had taken an unfortunate decision “out of despair”, Praniti Shinde — the daughter of former Union Minister and Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde — said he was under pressure from the ED and the BJP’s “blackmail tactics”.
“I do not think Mr. Chavan’s exit will impact the Congress’s fortunes in the Rajya Sabha elections. The BJP is trying to portray the Maharashtra Congress as an unstable party but we are strong. These are the BJP’s tactics of pressure and blackmail. Mr. Ashok Chavan was under great stress because of the mind games being played by the BJP,” she alleged.
Even before he submitted his resignation on Monday, rumours about Mr. Ashok Chavan’s exit had surfaced within the Congress party.
In August 2022, following Mr. Shinde’s revolt and the fall of the MVA, Mr. Ashok Chavan and ten other Congress MLAs did not cast their vote in the floor test of the newly formed Shinde-Fadnavis government. This had caused the MVA’s tally to fall to 99. An excuse given by most MLAs, including Mr. Ashok Chavan, was that they got stuck in Mumbai’s rush-hour traffic.
Meanwhile, stating there was raging factionalism within the Maharashtra Congress, Mr. Bawankule clarified that there was no proposal as yet to send Mr. Ashok Chavan to the Rajya Sabha if he were to join the BJP in the coming days.
“While anybody who wishes, joins the BJP after admiring PM Modi’s resolution for a progressive India is most welcome, there is no proposal as yet that Mr. Chavan would be joining us, or will be sent to the Rajya Sabha if he comes over to us,” he said. He added that the BJP already had the strength to win three seats.
“I do not think there will be much of a contest in the RS polls in the State. The BJP has the numbers to win three seats, the Eknath Shinde camp and Ajit Pawar’s NCP have the numbers to win one seat each. The Congress can win the remaining seat by taking support from Sharad Pawar-led NCP and Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena (UBT),” Mr. Bawankule said.
In 2022, days before Mr. Shinde’s revolt, the Maharashtra BJP led by Mr. Fadnavis had rattled the tripartite MVA by achieving a surprise victory on the hotly-contested sixth Rajya Sabha seat in the State. The BJP’s Dhananjay Mahadik narrowly beat the Sena’s (MVA’s) candidate, Sanjay Pawar, by two votes — 41 votes to 39.
