Sonia Gandhi silent on Maharashtra housing scam, CWG

NEW DELHI - Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday steered clear of two raging controversies- the financial irregularities in the Commonwealth Games and the alleged involvement of Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan in the Adarsh Housing project in Mumbai.

Addressing a meeting of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), which is being held after 13 years, Gandhi dwelled on matters such as the Kashmir crisis, Naxalism, 26/11 terror attacks, and the Ayodhya verdict, but chose to remain tightlipped on the Mumbai housing scam and the CWG irregularities.

The AICC meeting is being held as apart of the party’s 125th anniversary celebrations.

On Saturday, Gandhi set up a two-member panel to probe how the 31-storeyed plush Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society came up on a piece of land meant for families of Kargil martyrs and the allotment of flats to politicians, bureaucrats and military officials.

The 31-storey Adarsh Society in Colaba, Mumbai, has become the catchment area for a massive political controversy.

Former army chiefs, politicians and bureaucrats have all been allotted flats here for a fraction of the market rate.

Records show that two members of Chavan’s family, whom he describes as distant relatives, are among the 104 alottees for Adarsh Society.

The CBI is now investigating the scam.

As far as controversies surrounding the CWG is concerned, while the government machinery has been put to work to probe the alleged irregularities linked the event the opposition led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe in the matter.

BJP president Nitin Gadkari has dragged the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the Union Cabinet into the controversy, accusing it not verifying or justifying the inflated budgets for CWG-related projets. (ANI)