Congress taken by surprise

Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan was surprised that Ashok Chavan was named in the charge sheet filed in the Adarsh housing scam. Even senior Congress leaders wondered why only Ashok Chavan was held responsible for the scam.

“The file was cleared when Vilasrao Deshmukh was chief minister. But Ashok Chavan is being held responsible for the scam. He was asked to resign by the Congress high command to save the party’s face when the possibility of the involvement of other key leaders surfaced in October 2010,” said a Congress leader, requesting anonymity.

Another leader said that even party leaders in Delhi had conspired against Ashok Chavan. “Defence minister AK Antony was convinced by a lobby that the Adarsh land belonged to the defence. This fuelled the quick decision of the high command to demand his resignation,” he added.

The CM claimed that the state government had never objected to the CBI investigating into the Adarsh case. “We stand by our earlier statement made in the court that the state government never demanded a CBI inquiry. We had appointed our own machinery to probe the case. The media misinterpreted the petition filed in the court.”