Summoned here in the wake of an embarrassing housing scam, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan met Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Saturday to discuss the issue.
Shortly after he arrived here from Mumbai, Mr. 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.
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Accompanied by his wife Amita, Mr. Chavan earlier met Congress President’s Political Secretary Ahmed Patel.
Ms. Sonia Gandhi also held consultations in the morning 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 Mr. Chavan, whose mother-in-law, sister-in-law and brother-in-law, were among the 103 members of the controversial Adarsh Housing Society project in which several politicians, former Defence Services chiefs and other influential people have been allotted flats.
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The land was said to have been meant for Kargil war heroes and widows.
The decision to summon Mr. Chavan to the Capital for a meeting with the Congress Chief comes despite his statement yesterday that flats allotted 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.
Mr. Chavan had been involved in clearing papers for the upscale high-rise Adarsh building project in his previous capacity as the Revenue minister.