Chavan extends olive branch to party rivals, defends self

Party sources said the immediate task before Chavan, a Lok Sabha member, would be to stem the party’s downslide in the state where it had been in power for three consecutive terms.

Ironically, it was the Adarsh scam that had sparked the party’s downslide in 2010. Chavan had resigned from the CM’s post on November 9, 2010, and had been since kept away from coveted party posts.

The political rehabilitation comes even as Chavan is yet to be exonerated of all charges in the housing scam. Legal proceedings in a ‘paid news’ matter is also pending.

While the appointment raised some eyebrows and also led to another former chief minister Narayan Rane renewing his hostilities against Chavan, the new MPCC chief struck the right notes on Monday.

Unfazed by Rane’s criticism, Chavan extended an olive branch to him. Without naming the Konkan strongman, Chavan said, “He is an important asset for the party.”

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With the state unit riven with factionalism, Chavan said his aim would be to take all senior party leaders together in decision making. “I will soon hold a meeting involving such leaders,” he said.

And while the party drew a parallel with Bharatiya Janata Party’s national president Amit Shah to defend his appointment despite the pending cases, Chavan said, “My stand has been vindicated by various legal forums over a period of time. I won’t comment further since the matter (Adarsh case) is sub judice. But the party president (Sonia Gandhi) had made her stand clear when she offered me a ticket to contest LS polls. She had then said nothing in the law barred me from contesting a poll. Besides, the PCC chief’s post is a party post.”

On whether he felt his political rehabilitation was left a little too late, Chavan said, “Nothing was late. I was also assigned responsibilities for the LS and assembly polls. I’ve continued to work for the party.”

Admitting that reviving the party would be a challenging task, Chavan did not miss even a day to launch an offensive against the BJP-led government in Maharashtra, questioning lack of concrete measures to contain farmer suicides and swine flu in the state.

“We had taken several active measures in this regard when I was the CM. Why is the present government unable to stem the rot,” he said.

Taking a swipe at CM Devendra Fadnavis over the state’s stand on land acquisition, Chavan said the stance was “anti poor”. “Our government too had taken steps for ease of doing business. But these were not at the cost of farmers and the environment,” he said.

Chavan also took a dig at the Shiv Sena. “It is not clear whether it is in the government or in the Opposition. We do not even know if Sena’s opposition to land acquisition has a political motive.”

Chavan also said his handling of the NCP would be similar to the manner in which he dealt with them as the CM.

Even as he ran an alliance government in the state, Chavan had kept the NCP in check in his government. Both parties now sit in the opposition, with the NCP hobnobbing every now and then with the ruling BJP. He also said he shared excellent equations with party’s new Mumbai chief Sanjay Nirupam and Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil.