Ashish Deshmukh expelled by Cong for ‘anti-party activities’

Nagpur: Two days after he invited deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule to his home over breakfast, Congress expelled its former general secretary Ashish Deshmukh for ‘anti-party’ activities for six years.
The expulsion came following recommendation of former CM Prithviraj Chavan led panel that recommended disciplinary action against Deshmukh for his rants against MPCC president Nana Patole and others. He had even demanded an apology from former party president Rahul Gandhi for his remarks on the OBC community using the Modi surname that acted as trigger for his expulsion. The disciplinary committee informed the former Katol MLA in the expulsion letter issued on Monday that they discussed his reply at length and were not satisfied by it.

Earlier, Deshmukh was suspended by the party from its primary membership and was asked to explain his stand on allegations against him through a show cause notice on March 5. Deshmukh filed his reply on April 9 where he defended his serious allegations made against Patole and others, instead of demanding an apology.
Though Deshmukh could not be reached for comments, he had told TOI on April 24 that he would remain in Congress till the end.
He had even quoted examples of former guardian minister Satish Chaturvedi and Gaju Yadav from Ramtek, who too were suspended for the same reasons, but later it was revoked without any action. He had even expressed confidence that his suspension would be revoked like them. “I had left BJP and fought against then CM Fadnavis from his bastion of Southwest constituency, where I had reduced his victory margin,” he told TOI.
Deshmukh earlier met with Bawankule at his residence over breakfast on April 24 that had set the speculations of him rejoining BJP. After his meeting with Deshmukh at the latter's home, Fadnavis had asked the media not to read between the lines. The deputy CM however made it clear during his visit to Katol and Saoner that BJP would be looking to wrest both Katol and Saoner seats and provide tickets among local candidates for the 2024 assembly polls.