BJP demands immediate sacking of Chavan

NEW DELHI - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Saturday called for the immediate sacking of Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan over the alleged allotment of flats in Mumbai originally meant for Kargil war heroes to politicians, bureaucrats and military officials.

The BJP-demand for Chavan’s sacking came after the chief minister offered to resign and left it to Congress president Sonia Gandhi to take the final call.

The BJP seemed unimpressed with the offer of Chavan, whose mother-in-law and two other relatives have allegedly got flats in the Adarsh Housing Society whose flats were originally meant for families of soldiers killed in the 1999 Kargil conflict with Pakistan.

“No sentimental ownership can be accepted. No way. The BJP demands the chief minister should be immediately resigning or be removed immediately,” party spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters here.

Among other demands, Sitharaman said the government should order a probe headed by a Supreme Court judge. “The inquiry should be completed within a stipulated time span so that we know what has gone wrong. This has to be done within a time frame.”

She said the central government should look at ways and means to protect land and property reserved for defence personnel.

“We just cannot be watching this kind of misuse (of property given to armed forces),” she said.

Earlier, Chavan made the offer to resign after meeting Gandhi at her 10, Janpath residence here.

Chavan told reporters that he told Gandhi: “I am here, my resignation is also here. I leave it to you to take a final view.”

The scandal has raised a stink, with some senior military officers who got flats claiming they did not know it was meant for “Kargil martyrs”.