Ashok Chavan joining BJP not surprising: Sharad Pawar-led NCP

In a setback to the Congress ahead of Lok Sabha elections, former Maharashtra chief minister Chavan on Monday tendered his resignation from the party. On Tuesday, he joined the ruling BJP.

Mumbai: The Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Tuesday said former Congress veteran Ashok Chavan joining the BJP was not surprising, but rued that certain leaders who have the power and capacity to fight the saffron party are actually succumbing to its pressures.

In a setback to the Congress ahead of Lok Sabha elections, former Maharashtra chief minister Chavan on Monday tendered his resignation from the party. On Tuesday, he joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at an event here.

NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) spokesperson Clyde Crasto said Chavan is another example of those individuals, who when they are the lens, the BJP puts pressure on them.

"They succumb to it and then eventually join the party," he said alluding to the Adarsh scam which cost Chavan his chief ministerial berth in 2010.

Chavan is an accused in the Adarsh housing society scam wherein a 31-storey posh building in south Mumbai was constructed allegedly on land owned by the Defence Ministry without getting the requisite permissions and clearances 'It (Chavan joining the BJP) is not a surprise,' Crasto said.

"There are certain leaders, who have the power and capacity to fight the BJP, are actually giving up and succumbing to their pressures," Crasto added.