The former Maharashtra Chief Minister, Ashok Chavan, who managed to win one of the two seats the Congress retained in the State, trained his guns on Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Monday.
“In areas where the leadership was strong, the Modi wave did not have an impact,” he said in New Delhi, taking a dig at the Chief Minister. He went on to add: “The party needs to do a thorough analysis to look into what went wrong and take corrective measures.”
The Chief Minister had opposed the decision to give Mr. Chavan a party ticket because of his alleged involvement in the Adarsh scam. Mr Ashok Chavan went on to contest and win from Nanded.
Mr. Ashok Chavan’s criticism comes at a time when many within the State Congress are demanding a leadership change ahead of the Assembly polls in October. Several senior Ministers are reportedly vying for the Chief Minister’s chair. Last week, Industries Minister Narayan Rane and EGS Minister Nitin Raut had sent in their resignations, in a move seen as attempt to force Mr. Prithviraj Chavan’s exit. The resignations were rejected.
Speaking to the media, Pradesh Congress Committee president Manikrao Thakre however claimed that the party was united. “It’s clear that we have made mistakes and the public is upset with us. We have resolved to forget our differences and work together for the Assembly polls,” he said, adding that the party would hold a series of meetings between May 21 and 23 to discuss the rout.
Meanwhile, in an attempt at damage control, the Maharashtra Congress called a meeting on Monday to discuss the poll rout but with the Congress Working Committee meeting the same day, party leaders decided to postpone it.
