Adarsh society scam: Sonia Gandhi accepts Ashok Chavan’s resignation

NEW DELHI - Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday accepted Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan’s resignation offer following the Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society scam.

Chavan has been asked to submit his resignation to Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan.

The decision to ask Chavan to step down came hours before the winter session of Parliament was set to commence with the Opposition threatening to raise the issue.

The two-member committee comprising of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister AK Antony has given its feedback on the scam and Chavan’s role in it to Sonia.

The committee’s report says that Chavan’s family directly benefited from the scam. But it could not find any evidence against former chief ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sushil Kumar Shinde.

The committee says that the duo’s involvement was procedural.

Earlier, the Congress President had set up the two-member panel to probe how the 31-storeyed plush Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society came up on a piece of land meant for the 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. (ANI)