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High-rise Scam: Sonia orders probe, Chavan offers to quit
Satur day, October
30, 2010 08:43:34 PM, IANS
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New
Delhi/Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan
Saturday offered to resign over allotment of flats in Mumbai meant
for war heroes to unauthorised people during a meeting with
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, who asked two union ministers to
probe the matter.
Gandhi constituted a two-member team comprising Finance Minister
Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A.K. Antony to probe the
allotment of Adarsh Housing Society flats, originally meant for
families of soldiers killed in the 1999 Kargil conflict with
Pakistan, to politicians, bureaucrats and military officials.
"It is a fact that Chavan has offered to resign. But a decision on
the matter would be taken after the two-member committee submits a
report to Congress president," Congress general secretary
Janardhan Dwivedi told reporters at the Congress office here.
Chavan met Gandhi at her 10, Janpath residence earlier in the day.
Antony, who is in charge of Congress affairs in Maharashtra, and
Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel, were also present at the
meeting, sources said.
Chavan's mother-in-law and two other relatives are reported to
have got flats in the housing society.
Accompanied by his wife Amita, Chavan earlier met Ahmed Patel.
"I have explained all details about the society controversy to
Congress president. I have also offered to resign," Chavan told
reporters.
Chavan, 52, said he told Gandhi: "I am here, my resignation is
also here. I leave it to you to take a final view."
"I have kept the truth in front of her... The truth should come
out so that we can find out who all are responsible," he said.
Congress circles said Gandhi may discuss the Maharashtra political
issue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after he returns from a
foreign tour Saturday night.
"A decision on Chavan's resignation may be taken in the next 48
hours. Otherwise it may be after a week or so," a senior Congress
leader told IANS in Mumbai.
In Delhi, Congress circles said the issue has gained importance as
the special session of the All India Congress Committee( AICC) is
due to start there Tuesday.
"Our senior leaders Antony-ji and Pranab Muukherjee are finding
out the details. Sonia-ji will take an appropriate decision after
that," Mohan Prakash, Congress secretary in-charge of Maharashtra
told IANS.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded the immediate
sacking of Chavan. "The BJP demands the chief minister should
immediately resign or be removed immediately," BJP spokesperson
Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters here.
Chavan said that he welcomed the probe by the Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI) and the defence ministry into the allotment.
The scandal has raised a stink, with some senior military officers
who got flats claiming they did not know they were meant for "Kargil
martyrs".
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