Rahul Gandhi seeking moral high-ground on Adarsh is bad news for Prithviraj Chavan

NEW DELHI: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s public disapproval of Maharashtra government junking the Patil Commission report on the Adarsh housing scam, according to insiders, was aimed at reclaiming the moral high-ground on corruption. But it has also left the Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan’s vulnerable to his critics —both in Congress and NCP—who have been seeking his removal ahead of elections.

Gandhi’s move has also ended up pushing Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and Ex-CM Ashok Chavan on to the line of political fire.

Now, Chavan’s rivals claim that he lacks vote-catching charisma and organisational acumen. Gandhi’s snub, they feel, has also ended up scarring Chavan’s Mr Clean Image. However, it is said Chavan agreed to dump the report only after pressure from many Congress and NCP leaders.

Now, Congress leaders say it is just a matter of time before the state cabinet reclaims the Patil commission report that has indicted four former Congress CMs and a couple of NCP ministers. Congressmen also hint at the Gandhi’s move indirectly helping the AICC bring in the much-needed clarity on the state leadership ahead of the LS polls.

Incidentally, Chavan, a loner and a relative lightweight in the Congress-NCP alliance, has been leveraging his support of the Gandhis as his prime political insurance.

The fact that he took on Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar have made the NCP target him all the more. While Chavan’s sympathisers in Delhi say his skirmishes with Pawars were due to “his genuine interest in cleaning up the system”, his critics say he was “deliberately going after the Pawars thinking nothing could please the 10, Janpath more”.

“Whether Chavan could now continue as CM on moral grounds is for Rahul Gandhi to decide, ” quipped an NCP leader. “When the Centre had to withdraw the Ordinance against convicted leaders following similar remarks from Gandhi, the PM never resigned. But, I can’t say whether Chavan can be in the same league as Manmohan Singh”, wondered a Congress leader while sidestepping the query. The big question in Congress circles is whether Gandhi’s remarks were part of a larger plot or not.

Incidentally, the names of Shinde and Narayan Rane, Ashok Chavan..etc have been finding mention in the recent AICC talks about possible pre-poll revamp of Maharashtra cabinet and PCC. However, the party leaders underline the fact that any revival of the Patil report could dash Ashok Chavan’s bid for rehabilitation, as he has been strongly indicted by the commission.