Pune: Two purported audio recordings featuring Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) North Maharashtra organising secretary Vijay Chaudhari, allegedly making derogatory remarks against senior women leaders, have gone viral on social media, triggering a political controversy.
Event Context
The clips allegedly contain remarks against Union minister of state Raksha Khadse and former Nandurbar MP Heena Gavit. In one recording, Chaudhari is purportedly heard making offensive comments about Raksha and demanding her removal from the Union ministry, citing the political positions of her family members — Eknath Khadse and Rohini Khadse, who are associated with the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar).
In another clip, Chaudhari allegedly makes objectionable remarks against Heena and her father, BJP MLA Vijay Gavit.
Following a complaint by Heena’s brother Rohan Gavit, Nandurbar City police registered an FIR against Chaudhari on July 26 under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Team Analysis
Reacting to the controversy, Eknath said he would forward the audio clips to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP national president Nitin Nabin. He defended Raksha, saying she has remained loyal to the BJP despite differences within the family.
Eknath alleged that the incident reflected the declining discipline within a section of the Maharashtra BJP and said he would also file a complaint against Chaudhari at Muktainagar police station in Jalgaon. He further claimed that more such recordings exist in which Chaudhari allegedly targeted political rivals within the party.
Chaudhari, who is from Nandurbar, resigned as the BJP’s North Maharashtra organising secretary after the clips surfaced. In his resignation letter to state BJP president Ravindra Chavan, he sought an inquiry into the matter.
Denying the allegations, Chaudhari claimed that the audio clips were AI-generated and that the voices in the recordings were not his. He said he had approached the Nandurbar cyber police seeking an investigation into the authenticity of the clips.
