TIA correspondent
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NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: The high-level Congress panel looking into the Adarsh housing controversy and the replacement of the present chief minister Ashok Chavan will take more time to decide on the issue.
“I have come to Delhi this evening and could not see the whole document related to the issue. We need more time to study documents”, said Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday after his meeting with fellow panel member A K Antony.
Meanwhile Adarsh Housing Society scam is getting murkier with every passing day. Mwdia reports suggest that eight top Maharashtra Congress-NCP leaders recommended flats for the society.
Former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh: He recommended three flats – those of Uttam Ghakare, Kiran Bhadange and Amol Karbhari when he was the Chief Minister of Maharashtra
Another former Chief Minister and now the Revenue Minister, Narayan Rane (CM in 1999) recommended two people – Girish Mehta and Rupali Rao Rane.
Former Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde: He was the chief minister in 2004 and gave final approval to Adarsh in that year. He recommended one person – Major Khankoje (who was from the army background).
Ashok Chavan recommended his mother-in-law, (Bhagwati Manohari Lal Sharma) sister-in-law (Seema Vinod Sharma and brother-in-law (Jagdish Ambika Prasad Sharma). Name of more leader are coming up in the scam.
The Finance Minister along with Defence Minister A K Antony have been asked by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to submit a report on scam. Three of Chavan’s close relatives are among the 103 who were allotted flats in the 31-storeyed Adarsh Group Housing Society building in Mumbai originally meant for Kargil war widows. Chavan, Saturday offered to resign in an hour-long meeting with Mrs Gandhi.
Talking to media persons in New Delhi after his meeting with Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Chavan said: “he has left it to the party chief to decide on his successor”.
Prithviraj Chavan, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Vilasrao Deshmukh, , Narayan Rane and Mukul Wasnik are in race for the post. But each of them has some positive and negative aspect of their political career in the state. According to sources Prithviraj Chavan could be a best choice for high command.
He has a clean image and has no connection with any scam. He has good equations at Centre and he is a Maratha from western Maharashtra.
Ashok Chavan said, he has placed all the facts related to the housing society before Sonia Gandhi and welcomed the CBI inquiry into it. He maintained that the land, on which the housing society had come up, belonged to the state government and suggested that there were other chief ministers who were involved in the decisions taken on the project.
AICC General Secretary Janardhan Dwivedi informed media persons that the party President has asked senior leaders Pranab Mukherjee and A K Antony to give a report on the whole matter. He said that any further development on the issue would take place only after their report.
Chief Minister reached New Delhi early this morning and met senior Congress leader Ahmad Patel before meeting with the Congress President. Defence Minister and senior Congress leader who is in charge of Maharashtra, A.K.Antony held consultations with Sonia Gandhi late last night after he asked Army and Navy to ascertain facts about the ownership rights of the land used by the society.
Senior party leaders in New Delhi confirmed that the high command is upset with Chavan whose relatives have been reportedly allotted flats in the society.
Meanwhile, the BJP has demanded immediate resignation of Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan for his alleged involvement in the matter. Briefing media party spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman also sought a comprehensive probe by a sitting Supreme Court Judge into the controversy. She said the Society’s occupation certificate must be cancelled.
Meanwhile former Army chiefs General N C Vij and Deepak Kapoor have offered to surrender their flats from the scam-tainted Adarsh Housing Society. General Vij said he is also giving up the membership of society. "I have written to the Adarsh Society that I am giving up the membership with immediate effect. I have also informed the Defence Minister of my decision," he told NDTV.
General Vij also said had purchased a flat in the Society in Mumbai after retirement without knowing that they were meant for war widows.
Adarsh CHS, which has come up on a 6,490 sq mt plot, has been mired in controversy over llegations that the land was reserved for the welfare of Kargil war widows, but eventually usurped by the cooperative body consisting of former top armed forces officers, bureaucrats and politicians.