Chavan grabbed over six flats in Adarsh: BJP secretary

Mumbai, April 25 (IANS) Stating that after the 'Adarsh Loot', Congress leaders have started 'Adarsh Cover Up Operation', Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) National secretary Kirit Somaiya Wednesday alleged that former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan "has grabbed more than half a dozen flats in the name of his in-laws and friends".

Speaking to reporters here, Somaiya raised several questions on the Adarsh housing scam and said: "Is it not true that Ashok Chavan has grabbed more than half a dozen flats in the name of his in-laws and friends?"

Somaiya said that Congress ministers Ashok Chavan, Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sushilkumar Shinde were trying to create an impression that they had been exonerated in the interim report by the two-member judicial commission comprising Justice (retd) J.A. Patil and former state chief secretary P. Subrahmanyam.

Emphasising that the BJP sought answers from the Congress, Somaiya asked whether what the courts, CBI, CAG, and defence ministry have done is fraud.

"Is it not true that the land was asked and sanctioned in the name of Army heroes? Is it not true the relaxation, out of way sanctions, exemptions, treatment and facilitation as special case was done in the name of Kargil heroes," he questioned.

He also alleged that several benami transactions have taken place with regard to the scam. "Is it not true that illegal sanctions/permissions were extended by Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), environment, planning and urban ministries," he asked.

He asked as to why, after fifteen months and arrest of nine officials, not a single politician had been arrested.

Somaiya said that the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) had said that the Adarsh Co-operative Housing Society (Adarsh CHS) episode poses serious questions of probity, integrity and ethics in public life and among public servants, which need to be addressed by the polity and it also displays failure at all levels.