Ashok Chavan Has Repeated What His Father Did In 1978

Former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan’s decision to walk out of the Congress party is fraught with several major coincidences. His father, late Shankarrao (SB) Chavan, had left the Congress way back in 1978 to join a coalition government, led by his arch political foe Sharad Pawar. Now, Ashok has repeated the act by leaving the party. The second coincidence is that both became Maharashtra’s chief minister twice. While the elder Chavan was the CM for the periods 1974-77 and 1986-88, his son Ashok was appointed CM in the aftermath of the 2008 Pakistani terrorist attacks in Mumbai. After the party won the 2009 assembly election, Ashok continued in the post but was forced to resign when it was disclosed that one of his closest relatives was made a member of the infamous Adarsh Housing Society in south Mumbai. If SB Chavan chose to become a cabinet minister after relinquishing chief ministership, Ashok did the same in later years. It is a known fact that SB Chavan had few friends in the state Congress but he endeared himself to the Gandhi family after returning to the party fold in 1980 when Indira Gandhi staged a spectacular return. His fortunes continued to rise since his old friend PV Narasimha Rao became the PM. Ashok, too, had been in the good books of the Congress but its present state chief Nana Patole is said to be the reason for his decision to leave the party.