<p>Mumbai: A day after Rahul Gandhi said that a Congress leader from Maharashtra met his mother Sonia Gandhi, wept and left the party after falling prey to the tactics of the BJP’s use of central agencies, veteran politician <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/ashok-chavan">Ashok Chavan</a> issued a vehement denial.</p><p>Mid-February, Chavan (65), a former two-time Maharashtra chief minister and ex-president of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee, <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/india/maharashtra/big-blow-to-congress-ex-maharashtra-cm-ashok-chavan-quits-party-after-milind-deora-baba-siddique-2891248">left</a> the grand old party to join the BJP and in days became a Rajya Sabha <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/elections/india/ashok-chavan-to-contest-rajya-sabha-polls-2894062#:~:text=Mumbai%3A%20Veteran%20politician%20Ashok%20Chavan,RSS%20pracharak%20and%20BJP%20leader.">member</a>.</p><p>Addressing the rally of the I.N.D.I.A. opposition bloc, Gandhi said: “Let me tell you…a senior leader from Maharashtra, who I do not want to name, left Congress and cried in front of my mother and said 'Sonia ji, I am ashamed that I don't have the power to fight this ‘shakti’… I do not want to go to jail…Thousands of people have been threatened like this.” </p><p>Gandhi, the Wayanad MP, however, did not name Chavan, who was once said to be among those closest to the Gandhi family and was considered a die-hard loyalist. Incidentally, Chavan’s father late Shankarrao Chavan had been a former Maharashtra Chief Minister and former Union minister having handled portfolios like home, defence, and finance besides being the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission.</p>.Ashok Chavan strikes a blow to Congress in Nanded.<p>Rattled by Gandhi’s statement, Chavan, however, decided to present the facts. “I have not met Sonia Gandhi,” Chavan said.</p><p>"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.</p><p>"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,” he said.</p><p>According to Chavan, leaving Congress and joining BJP was his 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 Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he said. </p>
<p>Mumbai: A day after Rahul Gandhi said that a Congress leader from Maharashtra met his mother Sonia Gandhi, wept and left the party after falling prey to the tactics of the BJP’s use of central agencies, veteran politician <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/ashok-chavan">Ashok Chavan</a> issued a vehement denial.</p><p>Mid-February, Chavan (65), a former two-time Maharashtra chief minister and ex-president of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee, <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/india/maharashtra/big-blow-to-congress-ex-maharashtra-cm-ashok-chavan-quits-party-after-milind-deora-baba-siddique-2891248">left</a> the grand old party to join the BJP and in days became a Rajya Sabha <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/elections/india/ashok-chavan-to-contest-rajya-sabha-polls-2894062#:~:text=Mumbai%3A%20Veteran%20politician%20Ashok%20Chavan,RSS%20pracharak%20and%20BJP%20leader.">member</a>.</p><p>Addressing the rally of the I.N.D.I.A. opposition bloc, Gandhi said: “Let me tell you…a senior leader from Maharashtra, who I do not want to name, left Congress and cried in front of my mother and said 'Sonia ji, I am ashamed that I don't have the power to fight this ‘shakti’… I do not want to go to jail…Thousands of people have been threatened like this.” </p><p>Gandhi, the Wayanad MP, however, did not name Chavan, who was once said to be among those closest to the Gandhi family and was considered a die-hard loyalist. Incidentally, Chavan’s father late Shankarrao Chavan had been a former Maharashtra Chief Minister and former Union minister having handled portfolios like home, defence, and finance besides being the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission.</p>.Ashok Chavan strikes a blow to Congress in Nanded.<p>Rattled by Gandhi’s statement, Chavan, however, decided to present the facts. “I have not met Sonia Gandhi,” Chavan said.</p><p>"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.</p><p>"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,” he said.</p><p>According to Chavan, leaving Congress and joining BJP was his 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 Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he said. </p>