A day after former chief minister Ashok Chavan quit the grand old party to join the BJP, Maharashtra Congress in-charge Ramesh Chennithala on Tuesday dubbed Chavan as a “coward” who “ran away” from the battlefield and joined hands with the ruling party.
On a day when Chavan formally joined the BJP, Chennithala demanded to know if the reason behind the former chief minister joining the BJP was the possibility of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and CBI putting him in the dock. “Did he get scared of ED and CBI knocking on his doors?,” he asked.
Talking to media persons at the Gandhi Bhavan here after a meeting of party leaders, Chennithala said: “We had a discussion with senior leaders today. Ashok Chavan’s resignation will not weaken the Congress party. The party works according to its ideology, people do not accept those who leave the party. The Congress will work more vigorously and win the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections as well”.
“The Congress party has given several important posts like Chief Minister to Chavan. Until yesterday, he was in the Congress party, but suddenly he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. Ashok Chavan is a coward. He ran away from the battlefield and joined hands with the opposition to betray the Congress,” Chennithala said.
“Even if Ashok Chavan may have left the Congress party, no one else would follow his suit. The Congress, under the leadership of Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, will continue to fight vigorously along with its workers, the State Congress- in-charge said.
Chennithala expressed confidence that the former chief minister might have resigned from the Congress, no party MLA or leader would follow the latter’s suit.
Demanding to know as to what “injustice” that the Congress had done to Chavan which prompted him to join the BJP, Chennithala said: “Chavan met Mallikarjun Kharge and other senior leaders in Delhi and attended a party meeting next day. Even though the Congress party gave him a chance to lead, he left the party. What injustice did the Congress party do to Ashok Chavan?”.
Chennithala said that the BJP had levelled allegations of corruption against Ashok Chavan. “Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi had accused him in the Adarsh scam, and today he has joined the BJP, washing himself clean in the BJP’s washing machine,” he said.