Prithviraj Chavan faces opposition flak on CVC issue

Opposition parties in Maharashtra on Sunday boycotted the customary tea party hosted by chief minister Prithviraj Chavan ahead of the budget session, saying he misled the people over appointment of chief vigilance commissioner (CVC) during his stint as minister of state in the prime minister's office (PMO) and demanded an apology.

Addressing a press conference after a meeting of opposition parties which was attended by BJP, Shiv Sena and MNS, leader of opposition in the legislative assembly Eknath Khadse called for an apology from Chavan while reiterating the demand seeking his resignation on moral grounds.

"Chavan says it was the responsibility of Kerala government to provide vigilance report while the Kerala government has furnished documentary evidence that such a vigilance report was indeed given. However, Chavan is not ready to accept his responsibility. This amounts to betrayal of trust of the people of Maharashtra," Khadse said.

He also questioned Chavan's statement in Nanded recently assuring his predecessor Ashok Chavan that the party would be firmly behind him in his time of crises and good times will come for him again.

"What does he mean by this? We can only say that he plans to brush the Adarsh housing scam under the carpet. This is evident from the slow pace of investigations in the scam. Despite being named in the FIR, Ashok Chavan has still not  been called for questioning," Khadse said.