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Why is Indian culture losing its richness?

January 7, 2014

Indians are known to follow the old culture and respect elders. Everyday, we pray to the almighty and also follow various rituals. On the other hand, people have adopted the modern lifestyle and have stopped following Indian culture. We live in the era of globalisation which has proved to be a boon for people as they can purchase quality goods at competitive prices. On the other, globalisation has come with its own share of problems as it has created problems like inequitable distribution of wealth thereby creating a huge gap between the rich and the poor.

Indian culture is regarded as one of the oldest cultures of the world and is followed by the entire world. It teaches an individual about how to lead a life. For example, Lord Rama had shown the path to people about how to life a perfect life. We are Indians but we are forgetting our language, culture and are always aping the west. Are we not putting our own self image, our self respect, our mother India’s pride at stake by doing so?

Why we have started eating burgar instead of chapati? Why we drink tea and coffee instead of milk? Youth are saying hi and hello instead of touching feet of their elders. Instead of having food directly we are using spoon and forks. Why are we not following our culture? If people are blaming films for the degradation of Indian culture then it is not true. It all depends upon what you see, hear and think. Youth should accept the good things life has to offer and don’t forget about their nation’s culture.
Indians are losing their cultural roots, and drifting towards Western culture and language. Today people blindly emulate everything which is shown on television. Adopting modern life style is good but it comes with its own share of drawbacks. People need to realise that every religion says the same thing love all and help the needy. Our culture is decaying as we do accept the western culture very instantly. We learn good manners from our ancestors and Indian culture is the best. Let’s not forget our own culture and also spread it across the world.

No matter we respect other country’s culture but at the same time we should not let our culture down. A country is known by its culture, in western countries our diverse culture is praised and appreciated so why should we forget it ? We should be proud that we live in such a country with rich culture and traditions, so why not to stick with it? Steps must be taken to strengthen India’s rich and diverse, multi-cultural, multi-linguistic cultural heritage so that it remains a vibrant, dynamic and living part of community life.

Shinde kept “Ambedkar” on Hold

January 7, 2014

Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde who was supposed to inaugurate Babasaheb Ambedkar’s statue at Damu Nagar, Kandivali (E) at 3 pm kept people and media persons waiting by reaching the venue two hours twenty minutes late at 5.20 pm. Ambedkar followers had to face huge hardships as they had to wait for a long time for Shinde to arrive at the venue. Finally, Shinde arrived and unveiled the statue amid lot of chaos. Journalists who visited the place for covering the event too had to face a torrid time as they were waiting for Shinde’s arrival at the venue.

A resident from Kandivali on the condition of anonymity said, “All of us were eagerly waiting for function which was scheduled to begin at 3 pm. Since Shinde turned up late for the function hence all of us became anxious as we had to wait for more than two hours. It is the responsibility of every politician to be punctual and reach the venue at scheduled time. Since politicians’ time is precious they too should value our time.”

Chief Minister of Maharashtra Prithviraj Chavan’s photo missing from the posters erected for the inauguration event.

Posters of Ambedkar statue inauguration event were installed at various places in Kandivali. However, CM Prithviraj Chavan’s photo was missing from the poster which contained photos of several leaders of the Congress party. The posters had the photos of UPA chairperson and Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Vice President Rahul Gandhi, Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Congress MP Sanjay Nirupam and Eknath Gaikwad, Mumbai Congress President Janardan Chandurkar, local MLA’s Thakur Ramesh Singh, Aslam Shaikh, Chandrakant Handore, NCP Supremo Sharad Pawar, NCP minister Narayan Rane but Chavan’s photo was missing. A question which arises here is why did the party ignore CM Chavan?

Minimal crowd and lack of amenities at the venue

Sushil Kumar Shinde’s rallies are known to attract huge crowds. However, lesser crowds were visible in the Ambedkar statue inauguration event. Around 2000 people had attended the event including the Congress party workers. The organizers had failed to make adequate arrangements which would have enabled electronic media to cover the function properly. They only offered stage to the media after some journalists raised this issue with them.

Organizer of the function gave a blink and miss appearance

Even though the event was organized under the leadership of Member of Parliament Sanjay Nirupam but he failed to check about the arrangements been made before the commencement of the function. Finally, Nirupam arrived with Sushil Kumar Shinde and both shared the stage.

A political stunt to attract Dalit and OBC voters

The event has been organised with an intention to woo Dalit and OBC voters. Since Narendra Modi belongs to the OBC community and the RPI has joined hands with Shiv Sena hence Congress has unveiled Ambedkar’s statue to lure voters belonging to these communities.

NCP rigid on 22 seats

Afternoon Voice

January 7, 2014

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is adamant on its stand to contest 22 seats out of 48 parliamentary seats in Maharashtra. On the other hand, the Congress has been favouring 29:19 seat sharing formula in the Lok Sabha election as NCP had performed badly in the last election especially in western Maharashtra. However, the NCP is unwilling it accept this decision and has already announced to contest 22 seats in the state. The NCP is ready to swap few seats with its ally. Both the parties have been involved in a tug of war with each one of them trying to outdo the other. Often NCP has criticised Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan for making slow-paced decision which resulted into policy paralysis in the state. The party will soon finalise the seat sharing agreement with Congress. It aims to win 12 to 15 seats by contesting 22 seats in the Lok Sabha election.

NCP spokeperson Nawab Malik said the Congress performance has weakened after the assembly election. He said, “The Congress party has been routed out of the power in four states in the recently concluded assembly election. The seat sharing decision will be taken by our party president Sharad Pawar. We will fight election in 22 seats in the state. There is a possibility that Aam Aadmi Party will give a tough fight to Congress in the state.”

Earlier, Maharashtra Congress chief Manikrao Thakre had said that that seat-sharing 2009 formula was based on the 2004 poll results. He also added that since Congress has improved its performance in the 2009 election the party deserved three more seats.

NCP, which is number two after the Congress party in the local self government and top in the civic bodies, is quite keen to improve its tally from eight which it won in 2009 elections. NCP state president Bhaskar Jadhav said all efforts will be made to increase party’s tally.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has taken a decision to field new faces including youths, professionals, women in addition to ministers in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections to take on AAP and also the saffron BJP-Shiv Sena alliance.

Further, NCP chief and union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar exhorted party members to learn and effectively use social media including face book, tweeter, whatsapp in a serious bid to reach out a large number of voters especially youths.

He indicated that NCP would approach voters purely on development plank. Pawar reiterated that he won’t contest ensuing Lok Sabha elections but enter into the Rajya Sabha.

Nationalist Congress Party leader Praful Patel said that the party chief Sharad Pawar will not contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections due in the second quarter of this year.

AAP on street for membership drive

Afternoon Voice

January 7, 2014

Ever since Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) formed government in Delhi the common man, businessman, NGOs and even cobblers too are keen to join the party. AAP party activists are appealing to the people to join the party and have started registering new members by erecting stalls outside railway stations and many other public places. Many persons registered their names at Bandra railway station where new member registrations were held. Even the online registration too is picking at a faster pace. AAP has claimed that the enrolment of new members in the party has increased tenfold. Donations are pouring in and volunteers are lining up to join the party.

Today people are already fed up with rising corruption and inflation which is surging day by day and they are desperately seeking for a change in governance. People are upset with the ruling party as they have been running the government in an old-fashioned manner where decisions are taken by few leaders through closed-door meetings.

Preeti Sharma Menon, Secretary of Aam Aadmi Party, Maharashtra said, “Everyone is joining our party irrespective of their financial background. Recently the shoe the cobbler’s association had joined our party. We have erected stall and are inviting people to join AAP.”

Shirish Ashiyani, a student of Thodamal Engineering College, Bandra said, “I am really impressed with the mode of functioning adopted by the Aam Aadmi party. Hence I am joining them with an aim to eliminate corruption from the society.”

The manner in which things are changing only goes to show that people wouldn’t take bad governance any longer. Arvind Kejriwal’s popularity too has risen after his party formed government at Delhi. People appreciated the decision taken by him to lower electricity tariffs and provide drinking water. This now poses an immediate challenge to mainstream parties in the upcoming Lok sabha elections. Congress and BJP are already watching the governance model followed by AAP and they too are trying to emulate it. The UPA government had hurriedly passed the Lokpal bill in an attempt to project that it is serious about fighting corruption prevalent in the country.

Taranum Qureshi, a student of Rizvi College, Bandra said, “AAP is doing a good job hence I want to become its member so that I can work for the welfare of the common man.”

Satyawan Mandawkar a student from St Andrew College, Bandra said, “It’s good to see that AAP is inviting the common man to join the party. I believe that the common man should join this party as it works for their welfare.”

Sunil Yadav, a shopkeeper from Bandra said, “Many parties have been functioning in Mumbai for so many years however they failed to provide good governance. I am joining AAP as I expect that it will transform the society.”

Many prominent faces like ex-Infosys board member V Balakrishnan, Remo Fernandes, Samir Nair and Pawan Munjal have joined the AAP. Party worker, Dilip, said, “We got Rs 50 lakh per day after December 8.”
Most of the new faces have quit their jobs to join the party. Former Royal Bank of Scotland executive Meera Sanyal has also joined the AAP and has offered to contest from the Mumbai South Constituency in the 2014 Lok Sabha Polls.

Sukhdev Patel, Convener of AAP asserted, “Our membership has increased manifold.”

Party worker, Kiran Shaw said, “Professionals are getting more and more interested in pursuing political career and AAP has obviously offered them a very interesting platform for doing that.”

Journey turns terrible 30 dead

Afternoon Voice

January 7, 2014

The Maharashtra State Transport bus fell into a deep valley on the Mumbai-Nashik highway as the incident claimed the lives of 30 persons. The incident occurred when the bus was moving towards Ahmednagar from Thane. While overtaking a tempo the bus driver lost control as the vehicle fell into the valley near Malshej Ghat at around 10.30 am. The bus was crossing Arnala and was heading towards Aale fata, where the Malshej Ghat comes. The tempo driver has been arrested.

More than 40 passengers were seated inside the bus and it is said that more than 30 people are dead. Three passengers were seriously injured and the injured passengers have been moved to hospitals in Kalyan, Murbad and Tokawade. And the remaining injured passengers will be brought to Thane civil hospital for the treatment. The death toll is likely to go up.

Rescue operations are underway at the accident site, but the geographical location is hampering the work.

“The bus was headed towards Ahmednagar,” District Disaster Control Officer Jaideep Visave said.

Immediately after the accident, locals assembled at the spot and were trying to carry out the rescue operation in what ever way it was possible, the police further said adding that the officials of the district administration have rushed to the accident site to oversee the relief and rescue operations.

“The district headquarters got the message around 10.30 am and a team comprising police personnel, medical attendants and rescue workers was rushed to the spot. The number of casualties is not known immediately as the spot of the mishap lies deep into the valley,” Visave said.

An official from state transport (ST) on conditions of anonymity said, “We have asked the Thane fire brigade for help. There are already police officers who have come on the spot and are inspecting the bus. The bus has broken into two pieces. We are also investigating the issue”.

Malshej Ghat is a famous picnic spot located in the Sahyadri mountain range, situated on the border of Thane and Ahmednagar districts.

ST Bus registration number – MH12 GF 6646

Helpline numbers (0252) 4222 222, (0252) 4222 260

As per the information provided by the official, 20 women and 10 men were found dead.

A compensation of 5 lakh rupees was provided for the victims of the accident. The state government has announced a compensation of three lakh while MSRTC has announced a compensation of two lakh rupees. Fifty thousand rupees will be paid to the victims who have been injured in the accident.

The deceased’s name

1.Poonam Baban Aher
2.Kisan Nanabhau Chaudhary
3.Karbhari Shantaram Kurkute
4. Balu Tulshiram Aher
5.Tukaram Bhavri Dagri
6.Parshuram Shankar Sonavane
7.Vijay Kondiram Kulkarni
8.Popat Natha Date
9. Megha Nivriti Hande
10.Baban Tulshiram Aher
11.Sushila Balu Aher
12.Vimal Savleram Padkar
13.Anil Sitaram Kamble
14.Radha Shrikishna Palekar
15.Sarubhai Balu Aher
16)Khushbu Kasam Dalavi
17)Radhabai Tukaram Bhavari
18)Dhondiram Govind Panchane
19)Dwarkabai Sonavane
20) Prashant Vasant Ahir
21)Devram Bhikaji Godke(Conductor)
22)Kalyan Kisan Jadhav
23)Vashali Vasant Ahir
24)Sangeeta Suresh Sonavane
25)Sabhaji Sadashiv Jadhav
26)Khatija Dalvai

List off injured

Alefata Hospital Pune

1)Akash Baban Ahir
2) Mamta Shambahadur Morya
3)Gayatri Shrikrishna Palekar
4)Maya Jadhav
5)Radha Baban Ahir
6) Asif Usef Dalvai
7) Lilabai Vasant Ahir

Pune City Sainath Hospital Morshi, Daneshvar Hospital Bhosri

8) Kishor Deshmukh
9) Ajana Hande
10) Kasimira Usef Dalvai

Thane Abhinav Hospital

11)Popat Santu Devkar

Congress on ‘AAP ke kadam par’

Afternoon Voice

January 7, 2014

The rise of AAP is giving sleepless nights to Congress party as it is keen to follow its footsteps for remaining in power. Close on the heels of 50 per cent tariff cut by AAP in Delhi AICC Secretary and Congress MP Sanjay Nirupam and MPCC president Manikrao Thackeray has demanded a tariff reduction of power consumption of less than 500 units per month in Mumbai. Nirupam has already sent a letter in this regard to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan. The Congress which had received a severe jolt in the recently concluded assembly election wants to undo the damage by announcing people friendly policies. The party is closely watching the steps taken by AAP party in Delhi and trying to emulate it.

Talking to AV, Sanjay Nirupam said, “Middle class persons should be entitled to receive electricity at affordable price. I not bothered about the commercial class.

Nirupam said that an inquiry should be set up to investigate the pricing mechanism that is adopted by the companies which distribute power in the city.

Sanjay Nirupam threatened to agitate if the government fails to implement the welfare schemes. He said, “People residing in slums should receive some relief from the recurring electricity price hikes. If the government fails to implement this policy then we will protest.”

He pointed out that whenever the power was reduce in the past years, only the power companies benefited from the subsidy announced. Adding that benefit of the subsidy should only be passed on directly to the consumers.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) said that it has already put forward this proposal before the cabinet. NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said, “One and half month ago we had formed a committe under the leadership of Narayan Rane for overseeing the reduction in electricity tariffs. The Congress and AAP have only got into action now.”

Opposition parties are alleging that the Congress is blindly following AAP party and indulging in publicity stunt to woo voters. They also questioned why the Congress remained mum on this issue for so many years? Why the party didn’t demand for a reduction in electricity charges when they were in power?
Neelam Gorhe, Shiv Sena spokesperson said, “Why is the Congress worried about these issues now and what were they doing for the past five years. Since the general election is just round the corner hence Congress is indulging in such acts to lure voters. The party is also worried that if they don’t improve governance then they might have to face defeat in the election.”

BJP state president Devendra Fadnavis said, “Why did the Congress overlook this issue earlier why are they worried about it now? It’s a cheap tactics of the party to seek publicity.”

Maharasthra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said, “We will look into the power tariff issue. The decision has nothing to do with AAP’s announcement to lower electricity charges in Delhi.”

Speaking out of jealously

Afternoon Voice

January 7, 2014

Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray’s pungi wala remarks made against Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has not gone down well with Mayank Gandhi president AAP party Maharashtra unit. Mayank said Uddhav has become insecure after observing the growth of AAP in Delhi. He also added that Uddhav is now worried that AAP might play spoilsport in the next year’s Lok Sabha election.

Mayank Gandhi said, “Sena is aware that AAP will bring some kind of revolution hence they are scared of the party. They are only making irresponsible statements against our party. We are connected with the people hence they will vote for us. People are already fed up of rising corruption cases in the country hence they want clean governance which can be provided by our party.”

Earlier Uddhav Thackeray had called Arvind Kejriwal as pungiwala and also compared him with RJD Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav who too was popular among people but is now facing charges for the fodder scam. He had added that it’s early days for Kejriwal and he is yet to prove himself. Uddhav stated that Kejriwal too will meet the same fate like Lalu who was once considered as messiah for people. He criticised Kejriwal for refusing security and travelling in metro trains which will only create more inconvenice for the common man.

“Once upon a time, Lalu Prasad Yadav showed the same zeal which Kejriwal is showing today. He had also created an aura by playing the pungi. The same Lalu could not do anything when he had power in Bihar and is now jailed on corruption charges,” Uddhav said.

In an editorial in his party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ Uddav stated, “It has to be accepted that AAP performed a miracle in Delhi. The common people in Delhi and government employees voted for AAP,” he said. “Our democracy is wonderful. It is not certain behind which ‘pungi wala’ it will run. (Pungi, also called the been, or bin is a wind instrument played by snake charmers in India).

Now, it is Kejriwal who is playing the pungi and the people of Delhi are swaying (to the tune),” he said. “One’s competence is not proved by routinely branding others as agents and corrupt. Those who govern must behave like rulers and rule,” the Sena leader said.

Uddhav wanted that BJP should have formed minority government in Delhi. He also was confident that the party could have fulfilled all the promises made by it just like AAP. “BJP got 32 seats. They could have formed a minority government. We feel that it would have been nice had they done so,” Uddhav said.

“If AAP government is able to provide free water and power at concessional rate, it would be said that the same was possible for the BJP government too,” he said,

There was a huge crowd at Ramlila Maidan to witness Kejriwal ministry’s swearing-in, Uddhav said, adding, “There are certain techniques to gather crowds. If these techniques are used carefully, the crowds gather.”

BJP to file FIR against Ajaz Khan

Afternoon Voice

January 7, 2014

The Bhartiya Janata Party activists are miffed with actor Ajaz Khan for addressing Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as thief in seventh edition of reality show Bigg Boss. A delegation of BJP’s Yuva Morcha filed a complaint against Ajaz at Samata Nagar Police station for using offensive language against Modi. The reality show Bigg Boss is always known for creating some kind of controversies.

In the complaint the BJP party workers had mentioned that Ajaz Khan had hurt the sentiments of Narendra Modi’s well wishers. Modi is the prime ministerial candidate of BJP and commands respect hence people should not pass objectionable comments against him. Ajaz Khan doesn’t have any right to comment against Modi. Strict action must be taken against him for insulting Modi who is a national leader.

The party workers warned that if police fails to take action against Ajaz then they will protest in their own style. They are also planning to protest outside Bigg Boss house in Lonavala where the incident occurred.

Sandeep Upadhaya, BJP Yuva Morcha president spoke to AV and said, “We are miffed with Ajaz Khan for passing unwarranted comment against Narendra Modi. We want the police to take strict action against Ajaz failing which we will teach him a lesson in our style. A ban must be imposed of such kind of reality shows. If he is unaware about politics then he should refrain from using such kind of abusive language against our leader Narendra Modi.”
The Samata Nagar Police has registered a non-cognizable offence against Ajaz Khan.

Pravin More, Senior Police Inspector from Samata Nagar Police said, “We have registered a complaint filed by a delegation of Bharatiya Janata Party who arrived at our police station. We will forward the complaint to Lonavala Police Station as the incident occurred there.”

Earlier, another Bigg Boss Contestant Armaan Kohli was in trouble in case of attacking of Bigg Boss Co Contestant Sofia Hayat. After getting eliminated from the show, Sofia filed a police complaint against the actor. Armaan was taken into custody for interrogation and released few hours later.

The BJP party workers had protested outside the Bigg Boss house at Lonavala and they also attempeted to enter inside the house.

When we tried to contact officials from Colors channel about this issue they remained unavailable for comment.

BJP MLA from Borivali, Gopal Shetty said, “If any violent incidents occur in the city then Colors and Mumbai police will be responsible for that. They can’t malign the image of our prime ministerial candidate just for the sake of garnering TRPs.”

Will AICC take action against ex-CMs?

Afternoon Voice

January 7, 2014

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.

After High Command order, CM Chavan under pressure?

Afternoon Voice

January 7, 2014

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.

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