Chavan Says He Never Met Sonia Gandhi, Never Cried Before Her

Mumbai: Former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan, who recently quit Congress and joined the BJP, on Monday said that he did not meet Sonia Gandhi before taking the decision and therefore there was no question of crying before her. In his public rally on Sunday, Rahul Gandhi claimed that a senior Congress leader from Maharashtra had wept in front of his mother and said that he was joining the BJP because he did not want to go to jail. If Rahul Gandhi is saying that about me, then it is illogical and baseless, Mr. Chavan said.

While addressing a public rally at Shivaji Park in Mumbai, Mr. Gandhi said that a “senior Congress leader” from Maharashtra joined the BJP to escape investigation by cental agencies and avoid going to jail. He said that the BJP is using the Enforcement Directorate, the Income Tax Department, and others to intimidate leaders from opposition parties.

“A senior leader from Maharashtra, who I do not want to name, left Congress and cried in front of my mother and said 'Sonia ji, I am ashamed that I don’t have the power to fight this Shakti. I do not want to go to jail. Thousands of people have been threatened like this,” Mr. Gandhi said.

The Congress leader’s comment led to speculation that he was referring to Mr. Chavan, who joined the BJP last month. However, Mr. Chavan called Mr. Gandhi’s claim “baseless”.

“Rahul Gandhi has not taken any name. But if he is saying that about me, then it is illogical and baseless. The truth is that till I resigned from the Congress, I was working at the party headquarters. I resigned from the post of MLA and a few moments later resigned from the party also. Till then, no one knew that I had resigned,” the former chief minister said.

Mr. Chavan added that the claim that he met Sonia Gandhi is also a lie. “I never met Mrs. Gandhi. It is a political stunt to claim that I met her and expressed my emotions to her. It is a political statement from the election point of view,” he said.