Prithviraj Chavan faces Congress leaders' flak over controversial remarks

Prithviraj Chavan

Mumbai: Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has drawn flak from Congress leaders for his controversial remarks about his predecessors and the Adarsh Society scam.

"Chavan should not have made those remarks," former chief minister Narayan Rane, who was the party's poll campaign in-charge, said. "It does not matter if the remarks were on record or off record. He should not have made them," Rane told a Marathichannel, when told that Chavan had clarified that those were "off the record" comments and had expressed regret over it.

Prithviraj Chavan

"His chief ministerial post would not have remained intact by finishing off Congress. He should have remembered that Congress will be in difficulty with such remarks," Rane said. When pointed out that Chavan had said it was a "mistake" to have made those remarks, Rane said, "He said it was a mistake after elections, not before."

Congress leader from Marathwada and a close aide of late Vilasrao Deshmukh, Trimbakdas Zanwar, said "Chavan should not have made the remarks." "Making such grave charges leads to damaging party prospects. His remarks, which came on the eve of polling, have damaged the party," Zanwar, former president of Latur district Congress committee, told PTI.

"Vilasraoji was a very senior leader and no charge against him was proved. The High Court and CBI had given him clean chit (in Adarsh case)," Zanwar said. Amid a controversy over his reported remarks about his predecessors and the Adarsh Society scam, former Chavan had yesterday expressed "regrets", saying it was an "inadvertent mistake".

"It happened inadvertently. My chat after the interview was recorded. It was a mistake. I have expressed my regrets. What happened was wrong," he had said. In an interview to an English daily, Chavan was quoted as saying that had he initiated action against his predecessors (former Chief Ministers) Vilasrao Deshmukh, Sushilkumar Shinde and Ashok Chavan in the Adarsh case, the party would have been decimated in Maharashtra.