Adarsh was political accident: Ashok Chavan

Mumbai: The Adarsh scam continues to haunt veteran politician and two-time Maharashtra chief minister, Ashok Chavan, who moved from the Congress to the BJP.

Even as the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi raked up the issue, Chavan described it as a "political accident”.

During his second term as chief minister, Chavan, who was heading the Congress-NCP Democratic Front government, had to resign in November 2010 after the Adarsh scam broke out.

"The Adarsh case is in the Bombay High Court. Law will take its own course. I will only say that it was a political accident. I have already faced enough of it," Chavan said on Tuesday as he joined the BJP.

The Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society is a 31-storey upscale residential complex in Colaba area of Mumbai, which was originally east for war heroes and war widows who lost their spouses during the 1999 Kargil War. But the occupants of the flat included politicians and bureaucrats. Retired armed forces officers and senior bureaucrats colluded to corner flats in the building with blessings of politicians.

Shiv Sena (UBT) head and former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said that it would be disrespectful for the armed forces if Chavan is sent to Rajya Sabha.

“…you may recall, (prime minister) Narendra Modi and (deputy chief minister) Devendra Fadnavis had gone to Nanded (and spoke about corruption committed by Chavan. They had said Chavan disrespected the families of the martyred soldiers…if he was sent to Rajya Sabha, it would be disrespectful to armed forces,” he said.

AICC general secretary Ramesh Chennithala said that Modi had spoken about the Adarsh scam in the Parliament and the white paper also mentions it. “Chavan should tell what was the pressure…whether it was ED or CBI of which he was frightened,” he said.

Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole pulled out old tweets of BJP, which mentions about Chavan and Adarsh scam. “Chavan is an accused in the so-called Adarsh scam. ED and CBI were put after him. Chavan finally got fed up with this investigation and joined BJP,” he said.