Ashok Chavan will join the BJP today, one day after leaving the Congress, and submit an RS nomination tomorrow

Ashok Chavan, the former chief minister of Maharashtra, is expected to join the BJP one day after he resigned from the Congress. On February 14, Chavan will submit his nomination for the Rajya Sabha.

Prior to the approaching Lok Sabha elections, Chavan withdrew his main membership from the party on Monday, dealing another damage to the ancient institution. The choices made in the state by the grand old party apparently incensed the former head of Congress.

“I hereby submit my resignation from the primary membership of the Indian National Congress Party with effect from December 2, 2024 noon,” Chavan stated in a statement.

On Monday, he presented his resignation to Rahul Narvekar, the speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly, in Mumbai. According to reports, the state’s BJP leadership also showed up to the party’s Mumbai Pradesh office.

Days have passed since senior Congress politician Baba Siddique left the party and joined Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party on Saturday, when the son of former chief minister and Union Home Minister S B Chavan made this decision.

Siddique severed his 48-year ties to the venerable Congress party.

Congress leader Milind Deora ended his family’s 55-year connection to Congress earlier in January by resigning from the party’s core membership.

Following Chavan’s resignation yesterday, Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis made a mysterious statement that said, “Aagey aagey dekho hota hai kya” (wait and see what happens next).

The Opposition reacted sharply to Chavan’s departure as well. Uddhav Thackeray, the head of Shiv Sena (UBT), said that the BJP is changing into a “Congress occupied BJP.” Thackeray expressed shock at Chavan’s resignation and emphasized the possible fallout for the welfare of state farmers should politicians put their own interests ahead of their constituents’.

Although Chavan refuted the allegations, there is speculation that his departure might have been influenced by the Adarsh Building scandal referenced in the white paper submitted to the Parliament last week.

The 2010 Adarsh Building controversy forced Chavan to quit as the state’s chief minister. Chavan is one of the accused in the Adarsh Housing Society fraud, in which a luxurious 31-story structure in south Mumbai is said to have been built without the necessary approvals and licenses on Defence Ministry property.

Chavan was charged under the Prevention of Corruption Act, as well as the Indian Penal Code’s provisions for criminal conspiracy and deception.

The Supreme Court is now considering this issue; in 2018, the court halted the legal procedures.