Former Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Tuesday suggested that his party colleague Ashok Chavan left the party as the Adarsh Housing Society scam was mentioned in the White Paper released by the Centre. Ashok Chavan served as the Maharashtra Chief Minister from December 2008 to November 2010. He had to step down as the chief minister for his alleged involvement in the Adarsh Housing Society scam.
Also read: Maharashtra: Former CM Ashok Chavan joins BJP, Dy CM Fadnavis calls him 'stalwart leader'
The Adarsh Housing Society scam involved the construction of a high-rise building for war widows but was exploited by politicians, bureaucrats, and military officials to acquire flats. The alleged scam showed irregularities in land allocation, environmental violations and conflicts of interest.
Ashok Chavan faced allegations of impropriety regarding the ownership of three flats owned by his family. The scandal revealed that these flats were part of a more significant accumulation of personal wealth and assets by Chavan and his family, estimating their total worth to be around Rs 2,200 crore.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman earlier this month tabled in Parliament a 'white paper' on the management of the economy by the Congress-led UPA government. Sitharaman also listed the UPA-era scams, including the Adarsh scam. "This case involved irregularities in the allotment of apartments in a defence land project. It is at the trial stage," the paper says.
Ashok Chavan resigned from the Congress on Monday and joined the BJP in the presence of Maharashtra's deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Speaking on Ashok Chavan's exit, Prithviraj Chavan said: "It could be an incidence, but days ago the Centre released a 'White Paper' on the alleged corruption during the UPA rule. Adarsh Housing scam is mentioned in those scams. It is written that the land which was reserved for the defence personnel was misappropriated. And that case is ongoing in the court. After 2-3 days of this, this decision (of Chavan resigning from Congress) happened."
Ashok Chavan has, however, refuted the Adarsh scam link to his move to leave the Congress. "The white paper of PM on Adarsh and my resignation have no connection," Chavan said.