Punish Prithviraj, says BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party, on Saturday, demanded punishment for Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan alleging that he had not declared details about his house in Mumbai in his affidavit for the Rajya Sabha election in 2009.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, on Saturday, demanded punishment for Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan alleging that he had not declared details about his house in Mumbai in his affidavit for the Rajya Sabha election in 2009.

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Vinod Tawde, general secretary of Maharashtra BJP, alleged that Chavan had not declared his Mumbai flat as an asset even though he owned it.

“The flat was for economically weaker sections and a man who has completed his education in the US cannot be economically weak. Chavan hid the information deliberately and should be punished like a common man,” Tawde said.

In 2003, Chavan was alloted a flat in Venus Society at Wadala’s Bhakti Park complex from the chief minister’s discretionary quota. The flat was first allotted in the name of Chavan’s mother, the late Premlatai Chavan, as she had to be in the city for her cancer treatment. It was later allotted to Chavan.

Tawde demanded that Chavan be punished for hiding details about the Mumbai flat.
“He is not Mr Scam but not Mr Clean either,” Tawde said.

Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in Delhi, Chavan rubbished reports that he was illegally allotted a flat in a building in Wadala. “I do not think there is anything illegal in it. I was allocated the flat from the quota meant for MPs,” he said.

Chavan said his mother had requested for allocation of a flat as she was undergoing treatment for cancer at the Tata Memorial Hospital from the quota meant for former members of Parliament.

He said no guidelines were flouted in making the allocation to him.

BJP also demanded a judicial enquiry into the Adarsh case. “Though the CBI enquiry was initiated, it is limited to defence officials. There should be a separate, thorough judicial enquiry by a retired high court judge into the whole Adarsh society scam,” a BJP leader demanded.

He said all politicians and bureaucrats and others involved in the Adarsh scam should be punished. Speaking about appointing cabinet ministers he said, whichever minister is found to be involved in the Adarsh scam should not be a minister in Chavan’s cabinet.”

Tawde said the party has taken up the issue seriously and was going to expose more such scams in the state assembly's winter session scheduled in December in Nagpur. Tawde also demanded that the state government declare details of all plots allotted to various cooperative societies in the last ten years.