The Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi expressed his displeasure over the Maharashtra government’s decision to reject the Adarsh report. He wanted the government to reconsider the decision taken by it on the report. Ever since the Congress has lost assembly polls in four states Rahul has been showing some urgency to undo the damage by taking tough stand on issues like corruption and inflation which has severely affected the party’s performance.
Referring to the Maharashtra government’s decision to reject the report on the Adarsh scam, Rahul said, “I don’t agree with that decision, they should reconsider that”.
“There is no question of protecting anybody”, added Rahul Gandhi.
Earlier Maharasthra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan was reluctant to reverse the state cabinet decision to reject the Adarsh Commission report.
“I stand by the decision unanimously taken by the Cabinet in Nagpur. It was a collective decision and there is no question of reconsidering the matter,” Chavan said.
Chavan said he did not feel it necessary to explain the issue in detail since the state government had tabled an ATR (action taken report) along with the Adarsh Commission report. “It is self-explanatory,” he said.
The first two terms of reference covered by an earlier report said the land belonged to the state government and that the project was not confined to Kargil war heroes. The second report, tabled in the legislature in the winter session that concluded December 20, related to the others terms of reference (3-13) and was rejected by the government. “But we did table the entire report. So why accuse the government of concealing any fact,” Chavan added.
The Nationalist Congress Party had washed its hands of the Adarsh report and held Prithviraj Chavan responsible for rejecting the judicial commission report as he is the head of the cabinet. The Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar had said that Chavan had taken this decision after receiving instructions from the Congress high command in Delhi.
“The decision to reject the Adarsh commission report was taken by the Chief Minister. The CM is head of the cabinet,” Ajit Pawar said.
He also added that the Opposition parties had a right to go to court against the Cabinet decision if they wanted to.
The probe report has indicted several top politicians and bureaucrats that include four former Congress chief ministers — late Vilasrao Deshmukh, Ashok Chavan, Sushilkumar Shinde and Shivajirao Patil-Nilangekar.
The state government had delayed submitting the report in the Assembly until the last day of the winter session, when it suddenly announced it was rejecting the report after the report was tabled by the Chief Minister along with an action taken report (ATR).
Sources close to the CM said the government was apprehensive that if it were to accept the report, it would be incumbent upon it to take action based on its findings. “This could have put the state in a piquant situation with sitting ministers named in the report,” said a Congress minister.
The BJP has been vociferous in its demand that the Maharashtra government take action on the Adarsh Housing scam.
“It’s ironical that Prithviraj Chavan, who was brought after the Adarsh scam broke out and who formed the Adarsh commission, has rejected the report. By rejecting the report, Chavan has hurt his own image of being Mr Clean,” state BJP chief Devendra Fadnavis said.
