Ashok Chavan On Rahul Gandhi's "Weeping Senior Leader Who Quit" Comment

BJP Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Chavan said Monday he was not the "senior leader... who left the Congress... weeping" that Rahul Gandhi referred to at a 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' event in Mumbai.

On Sunday Rahul Gandhi - set to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Wayanad in Kerala and, most probably, the party stronghold of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh - concluded the Congress' pan-India yatra with sharp barbs at his rivals and an unnamed friend-turned-foe, who many saw as Mr Chavan.

Mr Gandhi suggested that a "senior leader" had moved to the BJP to evade scrutiny by probe agencies, repeating charges by the opposition - that the ruling party uses the Enforcement Directorate, the Income Tax Department, and others to intimidate rival politicians, particularly before elections.

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"... A senior leader from this state left the Congress. Weeping, he told my mother (ex-Congress boss Sonia Gandhi)... 'I'm ashamed. Don't have the power to fight this force. I do not want to go to jail'."

Responding to the statement, ex-Maharashtra Chief Minister - who joined the BJP last month - pointed out Mr Gandhi had not actually named any individual in his attack on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

"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, from the party also. Till then, no one knew I had resigned," he said in a video message.

"I never met Sonia Gandhi. It is baseless (to say) I met Sonia Gandhi and expressed my emotions. It is a political statement from the election point of view," he continued.

Two high-profile political leaders from Maharashtra quit the Congress this year; former Union Minister Milind Deora went to the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Mr Chavan went to the BJP.

READ | Milind Deora Quits Congress, Joins Eknath Shinde-Led Shiv Sena

Mr Chavan has three cases pending against him; two of these are linked to the Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society scam of November 2010, which had led to his resignation as Chief Minister.

The former Congress leader spoke to NDTV days after his switch to the BJP and nomination to the Rajya Sabha, and described his former party as a "sinking ship" with discontent within its ranks.

READ | "Congress Not Changing Is The Problem": Ashok Chavan To NDTV

Mr Chavan also criticised the Congress for failing to prep for the Lok Sabha election, which begins April 19; Maharashtra will vote in five phases starting from that date. "State of Congress vis-a-vis BJP? I don't see them ready for a fight (and) if you don't fight, how will you win?" he said.

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