Pressure mounts on Chavan to make a U-turn on scrapping of Adarsh report

The move will further embarass Prithviraj Chavan who has already been humiliated in public by Rahul on the Adarsh scam issue

Troubles for Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, it appears, are far from over. The Mumbai Regional Congress Committee (MRCC) on Saturday passed a resolution endorsing party vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s five-point agenda to curb corruption and price rise. It also agreed with the directive that the Chavan government reconsider its decision to reject a judicial commission report on the Adarsh Housing Society scam.

MRCC is the only committee in the state to have passed such a resolution; the state, city and district committees have remained tightlipped. The move has come against the backdrop of Chavan expressing his displeasure over the party unit’s functioning and a delay in office-bearers’ appointment.

MRCC President Janardan Chandurkar told Business Standard: “In our resolution, we have supported Rahul Gandhi’s drive to effectively fight corruption and tackle price rise.

Besides, we also extended our support to his view that the Maharashtra government reconsider its decision on the Adarsh scam report.” He added the party was fully with Gandhi on these issues.

Following the resolution, said an MRCC leader, asking not to be named, the onus now was on Chavan to go back to the Cabinet and scrap the earlier decision to dump the commission’s report.

A Congress minister admitted Rahul’s snub would aggravate internal bickering. “Let us wait and watch. The only respite is party president Sonia Gandhi’s statement that the issue will be resolved,” he added.

The state Cabinet is expected to meet in a few days and the chief minister could ask for a review of its earlier decision on the report.