Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and sitting minister Ashok Chavan is raining appreciation on Union Minister Nitin Gadkari as Chavan has revealed that Gadkari is his favourite minister in Narendra Modi's cabinet. Chavan, who is a senior Congress leader in the state, has called Gadkari as a right man in the wrong party. 

Chavan has been serving as a cabinet minister in Uddav Thackarey's government in Maharashtra and he was addressing a virtual press meet on Sunday during which he garlanded Gadkari amid flaying the Modi government for its failure in handling the COVID-19 pandemic. Chavan said that Modi had failed to handle the pandemic effectively and had overseen the loss of 12.21 crore jobs. 

He was addressing a meet over Modi's reign for seven consecutive years and Chavan had slammed the Central government by stating that it had kept all decision-making powers in its hands but is now blaming the state governments after the COVID-19 outbreak went out of control. When asked about whether he had any favourite minister in Modi's cabinet, Chavan cited Nitin Gadkari as his favourite. 

Nitin Gadkari is a BJP's Lok Sabha MP from Nagpur, Maharashtra, and has been serving as the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways. Chavan said despite ideological differences, Gadkari tends to maintain dialogue with other parties. The former Maharashtra Chief Minister said, "He (Gadkari) is the right man in the wrong party. He has a positive approach towards Maharashtra but his powers are being curtailed down continuously." 

Chavan had flayed the Modi government and said that the Center had a discriminatory attitude towards Maharashtra on all fronts, including GST compensation and financial aid. He further slammed the Center over the Maratha quota issue and urged the Central ruling BJP to come up with a solution after the Supreme Court had struck down a state law granting reservations in jobs and education to the community on May 5. 

During the virtual press meet, Ashok Chavan added, "The price of petrol had reached Rs 100 per litre (in the state). Some 12.21 crore people have lost their jobs. The per capita income of Bangladesh is now higher than that of India. The policies of the Center had devasted the country."