During Fadnavis Government, Eknath Shinde Brought Proposal For Alliance With Congress: Ashok Chavan
Nanded, 30th September 2022: Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Ashok Chavan made a shocking claim on Wednesday. Chavan said that during the tenure of the Fadnavis government, the Shiv Sena wanted to forge an alliance with the Congress.
Ashok Chavan said that between 2014 and 2019, when the BJP-Shiv Sena government was in power, a Shiv Sena delegation had come to his Mumbai office with a proposal for an alliance with the Congress. The present Chief Minister Eknath Shinde was also included in that delegation, he said. Shinde was then a minister in the BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis-led government, and Chavan was the Maharashtra Congress President.
Talking to local reporters in his hometown Nanded, Chavan said, “Shinde had come to meet me along with a Shiv Sena delegation with a proposal to break ties with the BJP.” The Indian Express reported that he further said, “I had said that Shiv Sena should also consult Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar, and if he agrees, I will talk to the central leadership of the Congress. But, nothing happened after that.”
According to Chavan, the alleged meeting took place during the 2017 local body elections in the state. At that time, the relations between BJP and Shiv Sena were extremely tense, and both parties contested the elections separately. The Congress leader was commenting on Shinde’s claims that he rebelled against Uddhav Thackeray because the Shiv Sena chief left Hindutva by joining hands with the Congress and the NCP. The Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition government fell due to Shinde’s rebellion. Apart from Shiv Sena, the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance included Congress and NCP.
Meanwhile, Shinde camp minister Gulabrao Patil termed Chavan’s remarks absurd and said that even if such a meeting had taken place in Shinde’s presence, he would have been forced to go there. He said, “If your leader tells you to go somewhere and do something, you have to do that. What is the big deal?”
