THE DEFECTION of Ashok Shankarrao Chavan is a big blow to the Congress, already beset with the exit of several leaders and given his long lineage in the party.
A former Maharashtra chief minister, Chavan, 66, won his first election on the Congress ticket nearly 40 years ago, and is the son of Congress veteran Shankarrao Chavan, who served in senior positions in the party.
Sources said the BJP, which has been at work since it lost the 2019 Assembly polls in Maharashtra, and has already engineered defections in the NCP and Shiv Sena, also opened channels with Chavan around five years ago.
Since then, several incidents involving Chavan have kept rumours of his probable exit alive. In June 2022, when cross-voting cost the Congress Rajya Sabha and Legislative Council seats, fingers had been pointed at Chavan.
A month later, the senior leader along with 11 MLAs close to him had not turned up for the trust vote sought by the BJP-Shinde Sena government, after toppling the government of NCP, Congress and Uddhav Sena. Chavan had claimed at the time that they had got caught in traffic and were not able to get to the Assembly on time.
Chavan is expected to join the BJP, though he insisted on Monday that he had not taken any call yet.
A former Maharashtra CM, Chavan came to the post in unfortunate circumstances, and later lost it in a similar situation.
He was named by the Congress to the post in the wake of the 2008 terrorist strikes in Mumbai, leading to the exit of then CM Vilasrao Deshmukh. Many in the Congress were apprehensive that Chavan, a relative junior, would not be able to hold his own against ally NCP’s doyen Sharad Pawar, but Chavan had proved his critics wrong, quickly bringing both the administration and Congress under his control.
After the 2009 Assembly elections, when the Congress-NCP won, the NCP reportedly pushed back against Chavan being made CM, putting forward the name of Sushilkumar Shinde instead. However, AICC president Sonia Gandhi is believed to have prevailed and stuck with Chavan.
That tenure came to an abrupt end, though, due to the Adarsh Housing Society Scam. Accused of misusing his office to help kith and kin get flats under the Adarsh housing scheme meant for war veterans, Chavan had vehemently denied the charges and challenged them in court.
However, the high command asked him to step down, arguing that the allegations – at a time when the UPA government at the Centre was fighting a coordinated anti-corruption campaign – were hurting the party. The BJP also made the alleged Adarsh scam a poll issue in successive elections, with Devendra Fadnavis taking the lead.
In another controversy, Chavan was questioned by the Election Commission over non-disclosure of poll expenditure related to advertisements in a Marathi daily.
Chavan finally stepped down on November 9, 2010, and was replaced by Prithviraj Chavan. After that, Ashok Chavan struggled to regain his stature in the party, despite his uncontested support base.
Following his father into politics, Chavan had his electoral debut from the Nanded Lok Sabha seat in 1987.
With his heart in Maharashtra politics, he returned to the state soon after, and in 1992, became an MLC, and later, Minister of State for Urban Development, PWD and Home. Under the Vilasrao Deshmukh-led government of Congress-NCP, Chavan was Minister of Transport, Cultural Affairs and Protocol.
In 2004, Chavan was again made minister, this time with the important portfolios of Industries, Mining and Cultural Affairs.
A non-controversial, friendly leader, Chavan was seen as amenable to all in the party. If there were any issues, it were with fellow Maratha leader Deshmukh, whom he later replaced as CM. This was largely due to tussle between the two over control of the Marathwada region, to which both belonged. Deshmukh died in August 2012.
After his two short-lived CM stints, Chavan’s career got a boost when he won from the Nanded Lok Sabha seat amidst the 2014 Narendra Modi wave elections. The BJP’s prime ministerial candidate at the time, Modi himself campaigned in Nanded, but could not stop the Congress leader from winning.
In 2019, however, Chavan failed to retain the seat, losing to the BJP’s Pratap Patil Chikhlikar by 20,146 votes. He then contested the 2019 Assembly polls, and won from the Bhokar seat, which he had represented when he became CM in 2009.
As per sources, the BJP was keen to get Chavan to its side because Nanded remains a tough seat for the party, as shown by its internal surveys as well. Then, of course, there is the psychological blow to the Congress.
Leaders talk of last year’s Ganesh festival as a crucial turning point, with Chavan and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis coming face to face. Although both sides dismissed the meeting as apolitical, the process of mending fences began then, sources said.
In the wake of Monday’s development, many old-timers recalled how Chavan’s father Shankarrao Chavan, who also served as Maharashtra CM as well as Union Home Minister, was popularly called “Headmaster” for his uprightness, honesty and punctuality.
Others talked about the incongruity of Chavan joining hands with Fadnavis, the BJP leader who led the corruption allegations against him.
However, as they say, politics has made for stranger bedfellows.
Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan talks to the media as he resigned from the Indian National Congress. (Express photo by Sankha deep Banerjee) 
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