Lok Sabha polls 2024: Ashok Chavan responds to Rahul Gandhi's 'senior leader who cried in front of Sonia Gandhi' remark, says...

Lok Sabha elections 2024: BJP Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Chavan on Monday dismissed Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's claims as being "baseless".

Gandhi claimed at a rally in Mumbai that a Maharashtra leader cried in front of his mother and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi before leaving the grand old party. He further noted that the said leader felt ashamed he could not "fight this power any more" and didn't want to go to jail. 

Reacting to these claims, Chavan said that he did not meet former Congress president Sonia Gandhi before leaving the grand old party. "I never met Sonia Gandhi. It is baseless (to say) that I met Sonia Gandhi and expressed my emotions. It is a political statement from the election point of view," Chavan was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. 

The former Congress strongman of Maratha politics said he was working at the grand old party's headquarters till he put his papers in. 

"But if he is saying that about me, then it is illogical and baseless. The truth is that till I resigned from the Congress, I was working at the party headquarters. I resigned from the post of MLA and a few moments later resigned from the party also. Till then, no one knew that I had resigned," the former Maharashtra Chief Minister said. 

Last month, Chavan joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and state BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule. While joining the BJP, Chavan said in an assuring tone that he will ensure the saffron party will win in his belt, be it in Lok Sabha elections or state polls. 

At the time, he said that quitting the Congress was his personal decision. "It is my personal decision. No one asked me to join the BJP. Till the last minute, I was with my ex-colleagues. But the circumstances were such that I had to take this decision for inclusive growth under the leadership of PM Modi," he said. 

Later, the BJP nominated him for the Rajya Sabha elections from Maharashtra. Chavan was elected to the Rajya Sabha unopposed. In 2010, Chavan stepped down as the Chief Minister due to his alleged involvement in the Adarsh housing scam. Ashok Chavan also served as the Maharashtra Congress chief from 2014-19. 

(With PTI inputs)