3 min readMumbaiFeb 13, 2024 09:03 PM IST
First published on: Feb 12, 2024 at 09:22 PM IST
On a day when senior Congress leader and former chief minister Ashok Chavan resigned from the party, a number of Congress leaders who are under the scanner as potential deserters publicly reaffirmed their commitment to the Congress, which tried to rally its MLAs to put up a united front.
Party MLAs such as Vijay Wadettiwar, Yashomati Thakur, Aslam Shaikh and Bhai Jagtap announced on social media that they are not going to join any other party and will remain with the Congress.
“I have been working with Ashok Chavan from 2006 and was twice a minister in his cabinet. But that does not mean that I will be joining him now. I am not going anywhere,” said Vijay Wadettiwar, the Leader of Opposition in the state legislative Assembly.
“I want to clarify that I am not leaving the Congress party. I urge the media to refrain from spreading false news about my shift to any other party. Let’s maintain decorum and avoid creating unnecessary confusion,” Congress MLA Aslam Shaikh said.
Former minister and MLA Yashomati Thakur said that the BJP is prepared to go to any extent for the sake of power. “Irrespective of anything, we are committed to the ideology. We are committed to secularism. We will not betray the ideology. We will remain where we are,” said Thakur.
Former Mumbai Congress chief Bhai Jagtap said that he will never let the tricolor down that he picked from the student age. “I am not working for post, greed or profit and I am not scared of anyone. Congress has survived many storms and nobody can finish it off. I guarantee you that my last yatra will be under the Congress’s tricolor,” he said.
With speculation of a few more MLAs joining him soon, the party leaders on Monday scrambled to contact all its MLAs while expressing “feeble” confidence that nobody would quit the party.
“A meeting of Congress MLAs has been called in Mumbai on February 14 and 15 ahead of nomination for Rajya Sabha election. We have been speaking with each and every of our legislators. They have told us that they will not leave the party,” said Balasaheb Thorat, Congress legislative party leader. Thorat, along with former CM Prithviraj Chavan, former minster Naseem Khan, MLA Amin Patel held a meeting on Monday afternoon after Chavan’s resignation from the party.
Thorat said that Chavan was in the party core committee meeting on Sunday afternoon. “He had even said that he will call by 11 AM today (Monday) to sit and decide further action. That call never came,” Thorat said.
Former minister and MLC Satej Patil said that ever since the news of Ashok Chavan quitting Congress, he spoke to over 20 to 22 leaders who said they would not join him.
Cong leaders Naseem Khan, Prithviraj Chavan and Balasaheb Thorat discuss strategy in Mumbai, Monday. (Image: Special arrangement) 
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