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Maharashtra's former chief minister Ashok Chavan, who is one of the 13 accused against whom the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a chargesheet in connection with the Adarsh cooperative housing society (CHS) scam, finally broke his silence, reiterating that he had done nothing wrong.
On Tuesday, while speaking in his hometown of Nanded in the under-developed Marathwada region, Chavan declared that he would actively work for the Congress party's success in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections.
Chavan's supporters indicate that he will contest from the Nanded Lok Sabha seat if nominated by the Congress party. However, Chavan indicated that as a true loyalist, he would abide by the party directive.
Chavan's statement comes after the special court in Mumbai on Saturday rejected the CBI's plea to drop his name from the list of accused in the Adarsh CHS scam. CBI had moved its application after state governor K Sankaranarayanan had rejected its plea for sanction to prosecute Chavan. However, the court observed that Chavan could be tried under the Prevention of Corruption Act as he has been accused of criminal misconduct.
A state Congress party executive member, who did not want to be identified, said it would be quite difficult for the party to sideline Chavan in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls. There are in all, eight Lok Sabha seats in Marathwada. During the 2009 polls, of the eight seats, the Congress had won Latur and Nanded while its partner, the Nationalist Congress Party had bagged Osmanabad.
The rest had gone to the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance.
