‘Maharashtra Congress Making Me Scapegoat For Failed Seat-sharing Talks’: Former CM Ashok Chavan

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan has lambasted Congress leaders for blaming him for not getting key seats in the seat-sharing deal with their allies in the state ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Chavan who switched over to BJP from Congress recently, reportedly has said Maharashtra Congress leaders "lack of diplomacy and business acumen" for failed seat-sharing talks.

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The Congress and its Maha Vikas Aghadi allies in Maharashtra include Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar). There are reports of the MVA allies having differences over seat-sharing for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

For now, no consensus has been reached over seat-sharing among MVA allies.

Sharad Pawar-led NCP faction has announced its candidate on the Bhiwandi seat and Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena faction named Chandrahar Patil from Sangli, which has irked the Congress.

In his reaction, Chavan as per India Today report said he was being made a "scapegoat" by state Congress leaders as he was no longer associated with the party.

"There is no decision-making ability among the Maharashtra Congress leaders. They say my name because they want to talk about someone. According to them, Chavan is a soft target. They think they can say anything about Ashok Chavan and it will not make any difference to anyone. It is convenient to criticise Ashok Chavan," he was quoted as having said.

"Congress leaders cannot face the wrath of office bearers, aspirants and activists. So they are making these statements for distraction," he said as per the report.