Largesse Showered Upon Ashok Chavan By Shinde-Fadanvis Revives Doubts About His Plans

The suspense about former chief minister Ashok Chavan’s next move has deepened as the Maharashtra government has sanctioned a Rs728 crore water grid scheme for his Bhokar assembly constituency though it has reversed almost all the decisions of the earlier Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. On his part, Chavan has maintained studied silence about his plans. It has been reported time and again that Chavan will walk into the BJP fold along with his nine supporters MLAs. Chavan has not reacted to such news items, adding to the rumour mongering. Chavan had disclosed a few days ago that chief minister Eknath Shinde had approached him in 2014 with a proposal to form a coalition government with the Congress by the Shiv Sena. The Congress party has not reacted to this claim. However, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar has ridiculed Chavan’s disclosure. Pawar said, “I am president of my party. Had any such proposal been mooted, I would have been informed.” The Shiv Sena under Uddhav Thackeray or CM Shinde have preferred to remain mum about Chavan’s statement even after a week.  Chavan’s absence at a crucial confidence vote in the state legislative assembly began generating doubts about his loyalty with the Congress. Now that Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo’ yatra is to enter Maharashtra soon, the controversy has been revived.