Congress turncoat Ashok Chavan, on Thursday, without delving into greater details of his surprise shift to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), disclosed that his decision to quit the Congress was not taken overnight and that the party is "ill-prepared for the elections."
When asked what compelled him to take the decision, Chavan in an interview to Hindustan Times, said, "My decision was not overnight. I have been watching how things were being handled. Lok Sabha elections are around the corner, and there are no preparations being made. Instead of wasting my time and effort I chose the better option."
PM Modi doing 'fantastic job'
He also praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "fantastic job" at the national and global level and claimed that the opposition (on the other hand) is "imploding." He said that his decision was not influenced due to any pressure from the central probe agencies.
Chavan's remarks followed hours after he filed his Rajya Sabha nomination on a BJP ticket. The former Maharashtra chief minister's high-profile exit came as a shock to the Congress as Chavan was a very influential leader of the party.
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Chavan's ties to the party date back to his father, Shankarrao Chavan's political career, who has himself served as a Congress CM of Maharashtra and held the finance ministry portfolio in the Rajiv Gandhi government.
Blow to Congress ahead of Lok Sabha polls
Chavan's exit followed days later Baba Siddique quit the Congress to join the NCP last week. His exit is the third major blow to the Congress recently, as last month, former Union Minister Milind Deora also left the party to join the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.
Notably, 66-year-old Chavan had lost the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Nanded, which was considered his bastion.
On Chavan's exit, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh took a veiled swipe saying, "When friends and colleagues leave a political party that has given them much - perhaps much more (than) they deserved - it is always a matter of anguish."