Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan is in a tight spot as senior Congress leaders complain about having to face investigations from two parallel agencies.
Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan is in a tight spot as senior Congress leaders complain about having to face investigations from two parallel agencies — the state judicial commission and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) — on the Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society scam.
"Both union and state ministers are being subjected to investigations from the two autonomous bodies on the same subject. There should have been some parameters to set aside how the commission's objectives were different from those of the CBI’s. Those summoned by the CBI and commission find that they have to reply to the same set of questions," complained a senior party leader, on condition of anonymity.
While the central party leadership has taken a view not to interfere in the ongoing probe, pressure is building at the state level to set a firm deadline on the Adarsh commission.
Chavan had set up a two-member commission, headed by a retired high court judge, to probe into the Adarsh scam after Shiv Sena and BJP alleged tainted bureaucrats and politicians were being let off without any accountability.
"After two extensions and additional allocation of Rs1.5 crore through supplementary demands there is no guarantee that the Adarsh commission will complete its probe by 2012,” said another senior minister.
“The recurring names of state top ministers and leaders summoned for investigation are adversely affecting the party's image,” said a senior general secretary in Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee.
“The common man is not going to make a difference between the CBI and state commission. The image before his mind is that union minister for power Sushilkumar Shinde, union minister for science and technology Vilasrao Deshmukh, former chief minister Ashok Chavan, state industry minister Narayan Rane are among those under the scanner."
BJP general secretary Vinod Tawde said: "If those who are being summoned are clean they should have nothing to fear… Even the CBI appears to have gone extremely slow in the matter, else how does one explain the inordinate delay?"
Sources in the government admit there are 117 witnesses who will have to be called in the case, indicating that it would last past 2012.
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