Congress leader Ashok Chavan on Thursday met Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis while visiting CM Eknath Shinde's OSD Ashish Kulkarni's house in Worli for Ganesh Darshan. With his growing closeness to BJP officials, this has fueled speculation that Ashok Chavan will join the party.


A decade age, Ashish Kulkarni, who played crucial role as a strategist during Rajya Sabha and MLC polls in Maharashtra, also had a brief stint with both Shiv Sena Supremo Bal Thackeray and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. He worked closely with Shiv Sena and Congress before joining as a Pradesh Vice President in Maharashtra BJP.


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While speaking to ABP News on phone , Ashok chavan clarified that he will be attending Bharat Jodo congress rally in Delhi soon. All the speculations of him joining BJP are baseless.


"I just happened to be at Ashish Kulkarni's place for Ganesh Darshan when DCM Fadnavis arrived. We had a cordial meet in the presence of many guests. It is wrong to draw such premature inferences," Chavan said.


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However, reports of Ashok Chavan being close to BJP officials have circulated since he abstained with nine other Congress MLAs from the majority test of Uddhav's Sena-Congress-NCP administration in the assembly.


Also, Chavan is under scrutiny when Congress leaders like as Prithviraj Chavan and Chandrakant Handore accused a few Congress MLAs of cross-voting during the MLC elections.


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Who Is Ashok Chavan?


Ashok Chavan is from one of the most powerful families in Maharashtra's Nanded district.


He is the son of Shankarrao Chavan, the previous Chief Minister. From 2008 to 2010, Ashok Chavan served as the state's Chief Minister.


However, after his name became involved in the suspected Adarsh Housing Society Scam, the party's top command urged him to resign from the CM office.