'Cong covering up Adarsh to prevent Chavan's arrest'

Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday accused the ruling Congress in Maharashtra of carrying on a cover-up operation to avoid the arrest of former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan in Adarsh Housing Society scam.

Addressing a press conference, BJP secretary Kirit Somaiya said the state government purposely asked the Adarsh judicial commission to submit an interim report on the issue of ownership of the land where Adarsh building stands, and whether it was reserved for Kargil war heroes or their kin, to influence the investigating agency (CBI).

"Is it not true that the number of members of the society, the available FSI, were increased fraudulently to accommodate politicians, bureaucrats, powerbrokers and their relatives, and that Ashok Chavan grabbed more than half a dozen flats in the name of his in-laws and friends?" Somaiya asked.

The reference to commission as to reservation for Kargil heroes was illogical as nobody had claimed in the first place that the land was reserved for Kargil war heroes. "The point was, the land was sought by the proposed society for housing ex-servicemen and Kargil war heroes and widows," he added.

"We will meet the governor next week and urge him to prevent misuse of the commission by the state government. Similarly, we also plan to call on the commission in this regard," Somaiya said.

He alleged that former Congress Chief Ministers Ashok Chavan, Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sushilkumar Shinde were trying to create an impression that the interim report had given them a clean chit.

Why a single politician had not been arrested in the case so far, though nine bureaucrats had been put behind the bars, he said.

The initial clearances were given by Deshmukh and later by Shinde, and Ashok Chavan, as the revenue minister, became part of the criminal conspiracy to approve the resolution which recommended inclusion of civilians in the society, Somaiya alleged.