Will Ashok Chavan's exit queer Congress pitch for Maharashtra RS seat?

New Delhi, Feb 14 With the race for Rajya Sabha poll heating up, the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday announced names of many political heavyweights for their election to the Upper House.

BJP fielded party President JP Nadda as its candidate for the upcoming biennial elections to Rajya Sabha from Gujarat while named Congress turncoat Ashok Chavan from Maharashtra.

The nomination of former Maharashtra CM on BJP ticket has put the Congress party on a sticky wicket as the latter risks losing its only one seat from the state.

Ashok Chavan, despite his exit from Congress which he served for 38 years, retains a strong support base in the grand old party and there are strong undercurrents of some of his ‘loyalist legislators’ crossing over to the saffron camp.

Though, Maharasthra Congress has strongly refuted chances of such ‘upheaval’ but insiders claim that cross-voting for Chavan, now a BJP candidate, from the Congress camp is high likely, even if don’t switch sides.

Till now, Congress was slated to comfortably win one Rajya Sabha seat from Maharasthra but Chavan’s sudden exit has cast a shadow on party’s prospects. Political watchers don’t rule out a ‘surprise shock’ for Congress in the Upper House polls from the state.

A total of six Rajya Sabha seats are to be filled from the state. Out of these, the BJP, with highest number of 105 legislators is set to send three MPs on its own while Ajit Pawar-led NCP and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena are expected to send one each.

Notably, NCP and Shiv Sena, the two key allies of Congress in Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), are in shambles today after witnessing vertical splits in the respective parties.

Congress was expected to lay claim over the sixth RS seat, owing to its biggest Opposition party status with 44 MLAs in the House but Chavan’s departure has led to cloud over its chances. Many believe that Chavan’s clout within the party is strong and couple of his loyalists are much likely to do ‘cross-voting’ for him in the biennial elections.

What adds credence to the cross-voting speculation is a previous precedent, in which Ashok Chavan and 10 other Congress MLAs voted against the alliance’s decision.

In August 2022, when Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena formed a new party after rebellion and formed BJP-Sena alliance government in the state, Chavan and some Congress MLAs gave a jolt to the alliance. While the new govt was facing floor test, Chavan and 10 other Congress MLAs skipped the House proceedings citing traffic jam. This resulted in MVA’s truncated strength to 99, despite winning a total of 154 seats together in the 2019 Assembly elections.

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