Party’s regime dumps report on graft by leaders
The findings of the Adarsh Commission of Inquiry have proved to be such a hot potato for the Congress that the Government of Maharashtra the party heads has simply rejected them. Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has given no reason for the rejection because he has no credible explanation to offer. For him to say that there need not be any debate on a Cabinet decision is an unacceptable proposition. The people have a right to know why the Government deems it fit to dismiss the findings of a panel it had established to inquire into the Adarsh Society housing scam.
But then, the Chavan regime's silence cannot hide the truth that the report has named a host of senior Congress leaders, from Union Minister for Home Affairs Sushil Kumar Shinde to former State Chief Ministers Ashok Chavan, Vilasrao Deshmukh and Shivajirao Patil Nilangekar, in connection with the fraud that rocked the country after it came in the public domain some three years ago. The probe panel's indictment exposes a consistent effort on the part of the Congress's leaders occupying high positions in the State regime over the years to perpetuate the scam. leader after Congress leader, in connivance with certain Nationalist Congress Party members and a section of the bureaucracy, is alleged to have conspired in the out-of-turn and other forms of illegal allotments of residential space in Adarsh Society to influential people.
The commission of inquiry has been especially harsh on Mr Ashok Chavan, observing that it was certain there had been a “nexus” between his action and the “benefit derived by his close relatives in the form of membership of the society”. Much as the Congress may like to, the report cannot be wished away. It has been prepared by a former judge and a former Chief Secretary who comprised the commission of inquiry, and is, therefore, free from any political or other forms of bias which the State regime may claim.
That the Chavan Government does not want to even accept the findings, let alone act on them, demonstrates that it does not have the political will to proceed against leaders of its party. Perhaps the State Government and the Congress believe that moving against their own leaders could create a political crisis in the run-up to the lok Sabha election and torpedo the party's chances of doing well. After all, the people named in the probe panel are, or were, heavyweights, with well-secured constituents. But the Chief Minister's calculation can go wrong. By sweeping under the carpet the explosive findings, he has exposed not just his Government but also the Congress to charges of being duplicitous on the issue of fighting corruption.
Just days ago, party vice president Rahul Gandhi had made a dramatic pitch for the lokpal Bill and other proposed legislations that would serve as a package to fight graft in public place. The Congress has since then gone on an overdrive to establish that Mr Gandhi had taken up cudgels against corruption. Mr Gandhi must inform the people on what he thinks of the Maharashtra Government's pretence that its leaders had nothing to do with the scam. The Adarsh issue offers the right occasion for Mr Gandhi to walk the talk. The people are in no mood to accept the Congress's lip service to the cause of containing corruption in public life.