Ashokrao Shankarrao Chavan (born 28 October 1958)
is an Indian
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
from Maharashtra. He is one of the most influential leaders of
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...
in Maharashtra. He has served as the
Chief Minister of Maharashtra state from 8 December 2008 to 9 November 2010. Also, he has served as Minister for Cultural Affairs, Industries, Mines and Protocol in the
Vilasrao Deshmukh
Vilasrao Dagadojirao Deshmukh (26 May 1945 – 14 August 2012) was an Indian politician who served as the 14th Chief Minister of Maharashtra, first term from 18 October 1999 to 16 January 2003 and second term, from 1 November 2004 to 5 D ...
government and he is also the former
PWD Minister of Maharashtra.
On 9 November 2010, the Congress Party asked him to resign from office over corruption allegations relating to
Adarsh Housing Society scam
The Adarsh Housing Society is a 31-story building constructed on prime real estate in Colaba, Mumbai, for the welfare of war widows and personnel of India's Ministry of Defence. Over a period of several years, politicians, bureaucrats and milit ...
. In the
2014 general elections, despite the allegations and anti-incumbency wave, he won the Lok Sabha election from his
Nanded constituency with a comfortable margin. In 2015, he was appointed the president of
Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee
The Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (or Maharashtra PCC) is the state unit of the Indian National Congress for the state of Maharashtra. The head office of the organization is situated in Dadar, Mumbai and administrative office in Colaba ...
. Chavan lost his Nanded seat in the 2019 Lok sabha election to Pratap Patil Chikhalikar of the BJP.
Chavan belongs to an influential political family based in
Nanded district of
Maharashtra
Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...
state. He is the son of
Shankarrao Chavan
Shankarrao Bhavrao Chavan (14 July 1920 – 26 February 2004) was an Indian politician who served twice as Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 1975 until 1977 and from 13 March 1986 until 26 June 1988. He was Finance Minister of India from 1988 ...
, a former Chief Minister of Maharashtra himself; they are the first father–son duo in the state's history to become chief ministers.
His brother-in-law
Bhaskarrao Bapurao Khatgaonkar Patil was a three-time
Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) and a three-time MP, and Chavan's wife,
Amita is MLA from
Bhokar constituency in Nanded for years 2014-19.
Personal life
Chavan did his schooling at the
St. Xavier's High School, Fort. He graduated in Science and has obtained his Master's in Business Management from
Hazarimal Jomani College and
B.Y.K. College of Commerce.
Chavan belongs to a political dynasty that includes his father and wife.
Chavan's father,
Shankarrao Chavan
Shankarrao Bhavrao Chavan (14 July 1920 – 26 February 2004) was an Indian politician who served twice as Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 1975 until 1977 and from 13 March 1986 until 26 June 1988. He was Finance Minister of India from 1988 ...
had a long career as a minister and was twice, the
Chief Minister of Maharashtra. He had also served as a senior minister in the national government under various Congress governments. Ashok Chavan is married to
Ameeta (née Sharma). Ameeta is current member of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from
Bhokar constituency which has previously been represented by both Shankarrao Chavan and Chavan himself. The couple has twin daughters Srijaya and Sujaya.
Political career
Organisational
He started career as student leader of
University of Pune
Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), formerly the University of Poona, is a collegiate public state university located in the city of Pune, India. It was established in 1949, and is spread over a campus in the neighbourhood of Ganeshk ...
occupying post of University Representative (UR).
He started his political career in
Congress Party as General Secretary,
Maharashtra
Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...
Pradesh Congress Committee
The elected committee that directs the Indian National Congress in an Indian state is known as Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC). It is elected by card-holding members of the Congress and in turn elects state president and delegates to the All I ...
from 1995 to 1999.
President:
Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee
The Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (or Maharashtra PCC) is the state unit of the Indian National Congress for the state of Maharashtra. The head office of the organization is situated in Dadar, Mumbai and administrative office in Colaba ...
from 2014 to 2019.
Electoral politics
In 1987–89, he held post of Member of Parliament from
Nanded Lok Sabha constituency.
In 1992, he was elected as M.L.C. to the Maharashtra Legislative Council and later joined as Minister of State for Public works, Urban Development and Home in March 1993.
In 2003,
Vilasrao Deshmukh
Vilasrao Dagadojirao Deshmukh (26 May 1945 – 14 August 2012) was an Indian politician who served as the 14th Chief Minister of Maharashtra, first term from 18 October 1999 to 16 January 2003 and second term, from 1 November 2004 to 5 D ...
appointed Chavan as Minister for Transport, Ports, Cultural Affairs and Protocol.
In November 2004, he was given the portfolio of Industries, Mining, Cultural Affairs & Protocol in Maharashtra cabinet.
As a cabinet minister
* 2003: Transport Minister.
* 2019: Sworn in as Cabinet Minister in
Uddhav Thackeray
Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (Marathi pronunciation: d̪ʱːəʋ ʈʰaːkɾeː born 27 July 1960) is an Indian politician who served as the 19th Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 2019 to 2022. He was also the president of Shiv Sena prior to ...
's Ministry.
Tenure as Chief Minister of Maharashtra
In the aftermath of the
November 2008 Mumbai attacks
The 2008 Mumbai attacks (also referred to as 26/11, pronounced "twenty six eleven") were a series of terrorist attacks that took place in November 2008, when 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamist terrorist organisation from Pakistan, ...
,
Vilasrao Deshmukh
Vilasrao Dagadojirao Deshmukh (26 May 1945 – 14 August 2012) was an Indian politician who served as the 14th Chief Minister of Maharashtra, first term from 18 October 1999 to 16 January 2003 and second term, from 1 November 2004 to 5 D ...
took the moral responsibility and offered to resign, which was then accepted by the party and Chavan was elected as
Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
After winning assembly elections in 2009, Congress President
Sonia Gandhi once again nominated Chavan as the
Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
Sharad Pawar
Sharad Govindrao Pawar (Marathi pronunciation: əɾəd̪ pəʋaːɾ born 12 December 1940) is an Indian politician. He has served as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra on four occasions. He has held the posts of Minister of Defence and Mini ...
, the leader of rival coalition partner NCP party, had been lukewarm towards Chavan, after his first choice of union power minister
Sushil Kumar Shinde
Sushilkumar Sambhaji Shinde (born 4 September 1941) is an Indian politician from the state of Maharashtra. He was the Minister of Home Affairs, Minister of Power in the Manmohan Singh government, and the Leader of the House in Lok Sabha until ...
was ignored well before the race began.
Congress had clearly plumped for a
Maratha
The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a M ...
to lead the party in the state, and had ignored the NCP view that a non-Maratha should be selected for the position to set right the social combination.
As a result, NCP chose a non-Maratha,
Chhagan Bhujbal
Chhagan Bhujbal (born 15 October 1947) is an Indian politician from Maharashtra. Currently he is Member of 14th Legislative Assembly of Maharashtra from Yeola Assembly. He also served as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 18 Octob ...
to occupy the deputy Chief Minister's post and gave the home ministry to
Jayant Patil
Jayant Rajaram Patil (born 16 February 1962) is an Indian politician from the state of Maharashtra. He has been representing Islampur (Vidhan Sabha constituency) in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for more than 3 decades. He was the Cab ...
. The latter being a Maratha balanced the NCP's own bid to remain the community's first choice.
Chavan was asked to resign as Chief Minister during a meeting with Congress president,
Sonia Gandhi, after it emerged that three of his relatives owned apartments in the
Adarsh Housing Society which was created specifically to house Indian war veterans in the upmarket
Colaba area of Mumbai. He was succeeded by
Prithviraj Chavan
Prithviraj Chavan () (born 17 March 1946) is an Indian politician who was the 17th Chief Minister of Maharashtra, a state in Western India. Chavan is a graduate of the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani and University of Cali ...
.
Post Chief Minister
Despite the corruption allegations, the Congress party put him up as a party candidate for the
2014 Lok Sabha Elections. He won the election by a huge margin. In Maharashtra,
Rajiv Satav
Rajeev Shankarrao Satav (21 September 1974 – 16 May 2021) was an Indian politician from the Indian National Congress.
At the time of his death, he was the member of the Rajya Sabha the upper house of Indian Parliament from Maharashtra.
Bi ...
and Chavan were the only Congress candidates elected.
In 2015, he took over as the chief of the
Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee
The Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (or Maharashtra PCC) is the state unit of the Indian National Congress for the state of Maharashtra. The head office of the organization is situated in Dadar, Mumbai and administrative office in Colaba ...
.
Chavan contested the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections from Nanded Constituency but lost the election to BJP's Prataprao Patil Chikhalikar. He is one of the 9 former Chief Ministers of Congress who lost in Lok Sabha 2019 Election.
Controversy, scams and allegations
Apart from the much discussed
Adarsh Housing Society Scam
The Adarsh Housing Society is a 31-story building constructed on prime real estate in Colaba, Mumbai, for the welfare of war widows and personnel of India's Ministry of Defence. Over a period of several years, politicians, bureaucrats and milit ...
, Chavan was accused of using his office to fund his relatives' bank.
Recently High court of Maharashtra state denied permission to the agency investigating the Adarsh scam to question Chavan.
In
2009 Assembly Elections, he was accused of hiding expenses on a paid supplement titled ''Ashok Parva'' in a leading Marathi daily. However, he denied the allegation by the
Election Commission of India
The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body. It was established by the Constitution of India to conduct and regulate elections in the country. Article 324 of the Constitution provides that the power of superintendence, di ...
of having inserted favourable
Paid News
An advertorial is an advertisement in the form of editorial content. The term "advertorial" is a blend (see portmanteau) of the words "advertisement" and "editorial." Merriam-Webster dates the origin of the word to 1946.
In printed publications, t ...
in newspapers.
"Maharashtra CM Chavan Challenges EC on Paid News"
''The Hindu'', 21 July 2010.
Legislative assembly election's record
References
External links
Biodata
* Official Website
Ashok Chavan
Biodata On Ourneta.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chavan, Ashok
1958 births
Living people
People from Nanded
Chief Ministers of Maharashtra
Indian National Congress politicians from Maharashtra
India MPs 1984–1989
Marathi politicians
Maharashtra MLAs 2009–2014
Lok Sabha members from Maharashtra
India MPs 2014–2019
Chief ministers from Indian National Congress
People from Marathwada
Corruption in Maharashtra