Maharashra chief minister Ashok Chavan resigns

Ashok Chavan today resigned as Maharashtra chief minister following a directive from Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in the wake of the Adarsh Housing Society scam.

Hours after Gandhi accepted his resignation offer and directed him to tender his resignation, Chavan drove to Raj Bhawan and met governor K Sankaranarayanan and put in his papers.

While accepting his resignation, the governor asked him to continue in the post till further arrangements are made.

Chavan, 51, had on October 30 offered to resign during a meeting with Gandhi after it emerged that three of his relatives were members of the housing society in upmarket Colaba.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting will be held at Vidhan Bhavan today at 2200 hours to elect a new leader.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and defence minister AK Antony will attend the meeting as central observers.