Thaindian News

Mumbai, Nov 9 (IANS) The Shiv Sena Tuesday demanded that the government initiate action against the politicians and bureaucrats involved in the Adarsh housing scam which has claimed the scalp of Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan.

Reacting soon after Chavan submitted his resignation Governor K. Sankaranarayanan, Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray rebutted the outgoing chief minister’s claim that he was innocent and had quit pending the outcome of an enquiry.

“If he is innocent, then why did he resign in the first place?” Thackeray asked, adding that the Congress should not rehabilitate any such tainted political leaders.

Thackeray demanded that the government should also take strict action against bureaucrats and other prominent personalities whose names have cropped up in the scam.

Meanwhile, in a statement released here Tuesday evening, the Maharashtra Samajwadi Party welcomed Chavan’s resignation as “a Diwali gift” for the people of the state.

State party chief Abu Asim Azmi demanded that the Congress must not rehabilitate any scam-tainted leaders in the state or in the central government and sought appropriate legal proceedings against Chavan.

The scam relates to the controversial high-rise being built in Mumbai’s upscale Colaba and in the neighbourhood of naval establishments. It was originally meant to be a six-storeyed apartment block for housing Kargil war heroes and widows.

However, it was surreptitiously converted into a plush 31-storeyed building and has over 100 members, including former service chiefs, senior serving army officials, bureaucrats, politicians their kin, and in at least one case, even a politician’s driver.