A section of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) leaders in Pune and Satara on Thursday slammed an editorial in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece, Saamana , which flayed 23 Congress leaders, including former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, for allegedly “demoralising” Congress MP Rahul Gandhi more than the BJP leadership had ever done.
The Congress is in alliance with the Sena and Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition in Maharashtra. Recently, a section of senior Congress leaders had written to party chief Sonia Gandhi seeking a “full-time and effective leadership” of the party. They included Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kabil Sibal, Shashi Tharoor, Mr. Chavan and Mukul Wasnik.
While casting aspersions on the political capabilities of these leaders, the Saamana editorial had singled out Mr. Chavan for censure, claiming that the veteran Congressman needed Mr. Pawar’s help to win the election from Satara.
“Those who have written the letter are nudging 70. None of them is a mass leader even at the district-level, let alone the State or country level. Despite that, most of them have been made Union ministers and CMs besides being given other important posts,” the edit said.
It further said that while senior Congressman P. Chidambaram is a noted lawyer, he was never a leader with a mass base.
“What to say about Mr. Chavan and Milind Deora? Mr. Chavan had to take Mr. Pawar’s help to win an election in Satara. It is laughable that such people have sought the active leadership in the Congress,” the edit said.
While Mr. Chavan refused to speak on the matter, a number of senior leaders in Karad and Pune came out strongly in his support, trashed the Sena edit, and hit out at Sanjay Raut, the associate editor.
“The Sena ought to know that Mr. Chavan fought and won extremely tough electoral contests from Karad South in the 2014 and the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections. Like Mr. Pawar, he is the only leader to have been elected to all four Houses — the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, and Council,” MPCC secretary Sanjay Balgude said.
Earlier, Mr. Raut had dubbed the Gandhi family the Aadhaar card of the Congress, while saying that there was no one outside the family who could lead the party.
The Sena MP, known for his stinging columns in the Saamana , further said that Mr. Gandhi was the only one within the Congress who had “unanimous acceptability”, while remarking that Mr. Gandhi was allegedly not being able to work due to a number of senior leaders who were hindering him.
Another Congress leader lashed out at Mr. Raut, saying that the Sena leader had no authority to question Mr. Chavan’s political abilities.
“With what breath-taking audacity does someone like Mr. Raut, who himself has never contested any Lok Sabha or Assembly election, dare to cast aspersions on the capabilities of Mr. Chavan and other Congress leaders?” he said, noting the rich political legacy of the Chavan family and their strong bond with the Gandhi family and impeccable loyalty to the Congress.
Mr. Chavan’s father, Dajisaheb Chavan was a four-time MP — 1957, 1962, 1967 and 1971 — and had served in the Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi governments in a number of important capacities.
“Mr. Chavan’s mother Premalakaki Chavan, herself a three-term MP — 1977, 1984 and 1989 — was a trusted aide of Indira Gandhi,” Manohar Shinde, a senior Congress leader from Satara, said.
Stating that Mr. Chavan had been admirably carrying on his family’s legacy since 1991, another Congressman from Satara said that the former CM had never needed — nor had sought — help from Mr. Pawar in winning any election.
“Neither has the NCP ever helped the Congress win in Karad. When Mr. Pawar split the Congress in 1999, most leaders from western Maharashtra joined him except Mr. Chavan, whose loyalty to the Congress is beyond question. His work in the Karad South Assembly segment spoke for itself. So, Mr. Raut and the Saamana would do better to keep their caustic barbs to themselves,” said the leader, requesting anonymity.
In the 2014 Assembly polls, Mr. Chavan had won a hard-fought contest for the Karad South seat in which he was arrayed against the BJP’s Atul Bhosale, while staving off formidable opposition within his own party in the form of seven-time Karad MLA Vilas Patil Undalkar.
In 2019, he was again pitted against Mr. Bhosale. Mr. Chavan had effortlessly trounced Mr. Bhosale despite a high-decibel campaign in Karad by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who had taunted Mr. Chavan by remarking that the BJP’s youth wing was sufficient to defeat him in the Assembly polls.
