Chavan offers to resign over housing scam

NEW DELHI - Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan Saturday offered to resign over the allotment of flats in Mumbai meant for war heroes to politicians, bureaucrats and military officials.

A visibly subdued Chavan made the admission after meeting Congress president Sonia 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.”

He said he had briefed her about the controversy related to the Adarsh Housing Society whose flats were originally meant for families of soldiers killed in the 1999 Kargil war with Pakistan.

He said he briefed her about the scam. “I have kept the truth in front of her… The truth should come out so that we can find out who all are responsible.”

Among others, Chavan’s mother-in-law and two other relatives are reported to have got flats in the housing society.

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”.