Adarsh Society scam: Ashok Chavan battles for survival

The writing seems to be on the wall for Ashok Chavan. It appears that he will not be let off without punishment for his alleged role in ‘depriving’ Kargil war heroes and war widows of their rightful allotment of flats in the Colaba property meant for them.

The Centre’s hand has been forced by the Congressman’s involvement in a matter compromising a nationally sensitive issue, and it has taken a tough stand against their one-time blue-eyed boy.

Barely a year after Chavan was reinstated as chief minister of Maharashtra, he finds himself politically isolated. A beleaguered Chavan offered to resign after an hour-long gruelling session with party supremo Sonia Gandhi over his role as beneficiary of the controversial Adarsh Housing Society project in Mumbai in which several politicians, former defence services chiefs and other influential people have been allotted flats.

“I have offered to resign and now it is up to Congress president Sonia Gandhi to take a decision,” a visibly tense Chavan told reporters on emerging from 10 Janpath on Saturday.

He was revenue minister at the time the decision to give the land to the society was taken, in 2003; a 31-storey building was later built on this land, said to have been meant for Kargil war heroes and widows.

Sonia Gandhi has constituted a panel comprising finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and defence minister AK Antony to look into Chavan’s role. Sources say this gives the Maharashtra chief minister a temporary breather, at least of 10 days.
However, he has been asked to stay put in the capital to facilitate completion of inquiry.

Even though an inquiry panel has been formed to ascertain Chavan’s exact role in the scam, initial investigations have revealed that the chief minister could not convincingly explain why only three applicants connected to the Kargil war were allotted flats, and why three flats were given to members of his extended family.     

Further, the Congress believes it cannot have a tainted chief minister in an important state like Maharashtra. Most significantly, they feel Chavan has compromised the Congress’s image by triggering a ‘war’ between the navy and army personnel over the housing scam.

The inquiry could be a long process because Antony will have to find out whether the land was actually meant for the Kargil martyrs and whether it belonged to the defence ministry in the first place.

That is the only factor that can possibly save Chavan as Kargil is an emotive issue for Sonia Gandhi. Also, since the Congress had exposed the role of NDA defence minister George Fernandes in the ‘coffingate’ and other scandals, the party cannot be seen as protecting Chavan.

However, the changes in Maharashtra will not take place in isolation whatever the pressures. Even if Chavan has to be sacrificed, he won’t be shown the door like former chief minister AR Antulay. The focus will then shift to other top Congress leaders and military generals who have also cornered flats.

The party has fixed no time-frame for completing the probe. “The Congress has appointed a two-member committee and any development in this matter will take place only when they submit their report. No timeline has been set to submit this report,” the chief spokesperson of the party, Janardan Dwivedi, said.

Chavan spent the last Diwali wondering whether he would be re-nominated as chief minister though the party had returned to power. This Diwali too, he is expected to spend his time wondering if he would survive after Diwali as the chief minister.
Paid news hearing looms

Since the assembly elections in 2009, chief minister Ashok Chavan has been dogged by a controversy over ‘paid news’. A complaint to the election commission of India was that identical news praising the chief minister and his government were flashed across several newspapers during the election period. The paid news hearing, which was scheduled for this week, has been postponed to next month.