Congress holds meeting in Maharashtra to formulate strategy for polls post Chavan's exit

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], February 13 (ANI): After the exit of Ashok Chavan from the party, Congress leaders on Tuesday held a meeting to formulate a strategy for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections in Maharashtra and Lok Sabha elections.
The meeting was chaired by senior leader Ramesh Chennithala after a series of political developments in the state.
Nana Patole, Prithviraj Chavan, Bala Saheb Thorat, Vijay Wadettiwar, Naseem Khan and Varsha Gaikwad among others were present at the meeting.
The meeting was also focused on the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections.
Maharashtra has 6 Rajya Sabha seats and February 15 is the last date to file nominations. The Congress will also finalize the candidates for these seats in the meeting.
Before the meeting, party leader Bala Saheb Thorat told ANI that there would be a discussion on the upcoming Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha elections in the meeting.
"We have to make a strategy for the elections of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. There has to be a discussion on all these things. Such a situation has happened before and Congress has emerged stronger. In 2024, you will again see Congress in the country and Maharashtra," he said.
Congress leader Arif Naseem Khan said that yesterday a big incident happened in Maharashtra that former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan left Congress without any reason.
"This incident is unfortunate. All of us party leaders are discussing that the upcoming Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha elections should be fought strongly," Khan said.
Meanwhile, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on Tuesday announced his decision to join the Bharatiya Janata Party asserting to work for the "constructive development of Maharashtra".
Calling it a "new beginning" in his political career, Ashok Chavan said, "Today it's a new beginning of my political career. I am formally joining the BJP in their office today. I am hopeful that we will work for the constructive development of Maharashtra."
He further said that he will be joining the BJP in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, party leader Ashish Shelar and Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule.
Chavan, who represents Bhokar, Nanded, as an MLA, was reported to have severe differences with state party chief Nana Patole. (ANI)