Adarsh Society scam: Ashok Chavan meets Ahmed Patel

Beleaguered Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan summoned in New Delhi by the Congress high command in the wake of the Adarsh Society scam today met the political secretary to party chief Sonia Gandhi.

This is the first meeting Chavan had with any central leader after landing here along with his wife Amita Chavan.

Gandhi held consultations with senior party leaders this morning including environment minister Jairam Ramesh, political secretary to Congress president Ahmed Patel, AICC general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi and Union minister Prithviraj Chavan who also hails from Maharashtra.

Chavan was summoned to meet the Congress president after his name cropped up in a controversy surrounding Adarsh housing society in Mumbai.

The Congress high command appears to be upset with Chavan, whose mother-in-law and two other relatives are among the 103 members of the controversial Adarsh Housing Society project in which several politicians, former defence services chiefs and other influential people have been alloted flats.

The land on which the 31-storey building in posh Colaba was said to have been meant for Kargil war heroes and widows.

The decision to summon Chavan to the capital for a meeting with the Congress chief comes despite his announcement yesterday that flats alloted to his mother-in-law and two other relatives were being surrendered. This has obviously not impressed the party leadership.

Highly placed sources said last night that Chavan, who became chief minister a year ago, is likely to be asked to step down in the wake of the Adarsh Society scam.

Chavan had been involved in clearing papers for the upscale high-rise Adarsh building project in his previous capacity as the revenue minister.