Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan might have taken a U-turn over the Adarsh report after Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi criticised the state government’s stand over the report but will action be taken against Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and former Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan? Senior ministers have been washing their hands off this issue and put the onus on the centre to take action against tainted ministers. They said that AICC will take a call in this regard. Earlier minister of state for communication Milind Deora had called for a debate on the judicial report pertaining to Adarsh Scam. He received support from Rahul Gandhi who had distanced himself from the state government’s decision to turn down the judicial report of the scam.
“The action against Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde comes under the purview of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The decision to allow or not allow former CM Ashok Chavan to contest Assembly elections also comes under AICC’s purview” said senior ministers from the Congress party.
Earlier the opposition parties like BJP and Shiv Sena has been demanding the resignation of Chavan for rejecting the Adarsh report. They alleged that the CM has been shielding the tainted ministers.
Shiv Sena MP and spokeperson Sanjay Raut said, “When the opposition parties had raised the Adarsh report issue in the assembly then CM Prithviraj Chavan turned a blind eye towards it but when Milind Deora and Rahul Gandhi took a tough stand Chavan became serious about it. A debate must be held about the Adarsh scam in Lok Sabha too and strict action must be taken against the accused.”
Leader of Opposition in Legislative Assembly Eknath Khadse demanded convening of a special session of state legislature to debate the report which has indicted four former Congress chief ministers, including current Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde.
“If the government does not accept our demands then we will take our protests to streets and to Parliament,” Khadse said.
“If they (Cong-NCP) are really serious about corruption, they should clear the hurdle for CBI to prosecute Ashok Chavan who has been indicted by the commission,” said Shiv Sena Group Leader in Legislative Assembly Subhash Desai.
Desai said Prithviraj Chavan’s clean image has taken a beating as he is “shielding” those indicted by the panel in its report. “The Chief Minister should resign on moral grounds,” he said.
On the other hand, MPCC Chief Manikrao Thakre defended Prithviraj Chavan and said that there is no need for him to step down from his post. “There is no question of Chief Minister resigning. The decision (to reject the report) had been taken after taking the cabinet into confidence,” Thakre said.
Chavan has already received flak for rejecting the Adarsh report. Of the politicians indicted in the report, former chief minister Shivajirao Nilengekar Patil is no longer an active player. Former CM Vilasrao Deshmukh is no more. This leaves with former CMs Ashok Chavan and Sushilkumar Shinde.
