Cong rejects housing scam accused Chavan's conspiracy charge

Mumbai, Jul 5: The

in Maharashtra today rejected its leader and former Chief Minister

's charge that political rivals had tried to implicate him in the multi-crore Adarsh housing scam and dubbed the remark as his "personal view".

"There is no conspiracy to implicate him from the Congress side," Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) President Manikrao Thakre said while talking to reporters here.

Soon after he was chargesheeted, along with 12 others, in the scam by CBI yesterday, Chavan accused his political rivals of trying to implicate him in the case which had led to his resignation as Chief Minister in Nov 2010.

The remark was Chavan's "personal view", Thakre said. Asked if the chargesheet against a former Congress Chief Minister was an embarrassment for the ruling party, Thakre said, "he has been chargesheeted but his guilt is yet to be proved in the court."

Chavan, as Revenue Minister in 2001-03, had dealt with files pertaining to the ownership of land on which the residential building in question (Adarsh housing society) has been constructed.

He is alleged to have recommended allotment of 40 per cent flats to civilians in the building, which was said to be meant for Kargil widows and war heroes.

As Chief Minister (Dec 2008-Nov 2010), he was accused of approving additional construction rights for the housing society as a quid pro quo for getting flats for his kin.

Chavan was examined by a State Government-appointed judicial commission which is also looking into the scam. His predecessors, Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sushil Kumar Shinde, who too had handled files related to the housing project, were also examined by the judicial panel.

PTI