Ashok Chavan

Ashok Shankarrao Chavan (born 28 October 1958) is an Indian politician from Maharashtra. He is the son of the late former Maharashtra Chief Minister Shankarrao Chavan. He was one of the most influential leaders of Indian National Congress in Maharashtra but joined Bhartiya Janata Party on 13 February 2024. He served as the chief minister of Maharashtra state from 8 December 2008 to 9 November 2010. On 9 November 2010, the Congress Party asked him to resign from office over corruption allegations relating to Adarsh Housing Society scam. 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. 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 state. He is the son of Shankarrao Chavan, 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 was MLA from Bhokar constituency in Nanded for years 2014-19.