Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Milind Deora on Sunday joined the BJP-led Opposition in mounting pressure on Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan for convening a special session of the Maharashtra legislature to discuss the findings of the two-member commission on the Adarsh housing society scam.
A day after leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Eknath Khadse and his counterpart in the State Council Vinod Twade, also of the BJP, demanded that a special session of the State legislature be convened to debate the recommendations of the two Adarsh scam, Deora of the ruling Congress said: “I feel that the inquiry commission report should be discussed in the State Assembly. The report should also be debated in other public platforms including the media”.
Deora, who had earlier expressed displeasure over the state government’s decision’s to reject the inquiry commission’s report on the Adarsh scam and demanded an investigation into the findings of the report, urged all parties, particularly those from the Opposition, not to politicise the Adarsh scam report but contribute towards addressing the issue squarely. “leaders of all political parties — be it MlAs or MPs are involved in the Adarsh scam. They should come clean on matters relating to the scam. If something has gone wrong, then law must take its course,” Deora told mediapersons here.
Replying to a question, Deora said that the question before the political parties was not about improving their eroded image, but about taking right decisions in public interest. “The question for political parties is not about improving or tarnishing their image. The issue is about taking right decisions in public interest. The report should be discussed in the State Assembly and other forums, including media”.
Deora’s second statement on the Adarsh scam comes after the intervention of Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, who said that the Maharashtra Government should re-consider its decision to reject the commission’s findings indicting four the party’s former chief ministers and AICC president Sonia Gandhi’s subsequent endorsement of Rahul’s stand.
Making most the embarrassing situation that the Prithiviraj Chavan dispensation finds itself in — especially after the Congress president and vice-president called for action on the Adarsh commission report, the BJP-led Opposition is rooting for action against the former Chief Ministers, Ministers and senior bureaucrats indicted in the report.
Talking separately to The Pioneer, Khadse reiterated his demand for the convening of a special session of the State legislature to discuss the recommendations of the Adarsh inquiry commission report, and said: “Now that the State Government has tabled the Adarsh commission’s report in both the Houses, it has become a property of the State legislature. The DF Government should lose no time in convening a special session of the State legislature to debate the recommendations in the report. Since the Government is in majority in both the Houses, the question of the Government getting defeated on the floors of the two Houses does not arise. After a debate, the State Government can decide on the course of actions against all those indicted in the report”.
On his part, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray has said that the Congress-led DF Government has no moral right to continue in office, especially after it rejected the Adarsh Commission report.