Adarsh scam: Maharashtra CM Chavan meets Sonia, offers to resign

NEW DELHI: After meeting an 'upset' party chief Sonia Gandhi, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan has offered to resign. He said the decision now lies with Sonia Gandhi.

Summoned here in the wake of an embarrassing housing scam, beleaguered Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on Saturday met Congress President Sonia Gandhi to discuss the issue.

Shortly after he arrived here from Mumbai, Chavan drove to the 10, Janpath residence of Gandhi for discussions amidst reports that she was deeply upset over the entire affair including the fact that three of the chief minister's relatives were allotted flats in the Adarsh Group Housing Society meant for the families of Kargil war victims.

Defence Minister A K Antony, who is in charge of Congress affairs in Maharashtra, Congress President's Political Secretary Ahmed Patel, were also present at the meeting.

Accompanied by his wife Amita, Chavan earlier met Congress President's Political Secretary Ahmed Patel.

Gandhi also held consultations in the morning with with senior party leaders in which Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh was present besides Patel, AICC General Secretary Janardhan Dwivedi and Union Minister Prithviraj Chavan, who also hails from Maharashtra.

The Congress high command appears to be upset with Chavan, whose mother-in-law, sister in law and brother in law, were among the the 103 members of the controversial Adarsh Housing Society project in which several politicians, former Defence Services chiefs and other influential people have been alloted flats.

The land on which the 31-storey building in posh Colaba was said to have been meant for Kargil war heroes and widows.

The decision to summon Chavan to the Capital for a meeting with the Congress Chief comes despite his statement yesterday that flats alloted to his mother-in-law and two other relatives were being surrendered. This has obviously not impressed the party leadership.

Highly placed sources said last night that Chavan, who became chief minister a year ago, is likely to be asked to step down in the wake of the Adarsh Housing scam.

Chavan had been involved in clearing papers for the upscale high-rise Adarsh building project in his previous capacity as the Revenue minister.