Chavan’s office says he won’t quit amid flutter over Fadnavis ‘meet’

Speaking to reporters in Pune, however, Fadnavis denied any such meeting. “He had come for Ganesh darshan at a place where I, too, had gone. We ran into each other. There was no meeting between us.”

Chavan’s office, when contacted, said the reports of him joining the BJP are baseless as he is busy making preparations for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, which is going to reach Maharashtra from Nanded, the hometown of Chavan.

Though Chavan lost the 2019 Lok Sabha election, he enjoys political clout in the district and remains one of the most dominant leaders of the Congress in the Marathwada region. “He will leave for Delhi on Saturday morning where he will visit party leaders and join the party’s planned protest,” his office said.

Despite requests, Chavan did not comment on the speculations surrounding him.

There have been speculations about Chavan from the day he, along with seven other Congress MLAs, arrived late for the trust vote against the Eknath Shinde government and could not enter the Assembly hall for voting. Since then, speculations about him switching sides and joining the BJP had been gaining ground. Chavan has not denied the reports speculating on his political future, only saying that no such move is on the cards as of now. However, state Congress president Nana Patole and the party’s legislative party leader Balasaheb Thorat issued statements dismissing any such possibility. “There is no truth to speculations of Chavan quitting the Congress. He is firmly with the Congress and will remain so,” Patole said.

Thorat said he along with Chavan are busy preparing for the Maharashtra leg of the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ and are committed to strengthening the Congress in the state. “These mischievous reports against a senior leader like Ashok Chavan are absolutely unfair. The media should reflect before airing such reports,” he said.