Chavan weighs Sena8217;s 8216;Srikrishna option8217; to dodge Adarsh red face

This might be seen as amounting to a breach of trust by the chief minister who had promised to table the report in the monsoon session which ended on Friday,but technically,the government would be acting within its rights,a top officer in the state legal department said.

A nearly identical method was adopted by the Shiv Sena-BJP government to bury the Srikrishna Commission report on the 1992-93 riots,sources said.

The Adarsh commission,headed by retired high court justice J A Patil,submitted its report to the chief secretary on April 18,which was the last day of the assemblys six-week budget session. Chief Minister Chavan said on the floor of the House that the report would be tabled in the next monsoon session. But that did not happen,and on Friday,the last day of the monsoon session,Speaker Dilip Walse-Patil reminded the government of its promise.

The governments deadline for placing the report in the state assembly and council is October 31. It is likely to hand over copies of the report along with the ATR to the Speaker and Council Chairman Shivajirao Deshmukh before that date, said a source.

If the government hands over copies of the report to the Speaker and Chairman,it will amount to having kept the promise of tabling it in both Houses. It cant be faulted. If the government so desires,it need not bring it for debate, the official explained.

The winter session of the assembly begins in Nagpur in December.

Several Congress and NCP ministers said making the report public would revive the debate on the role of former chief ministers including Sushil Kumar Shinde,the union home minister. Leader of the opposition in Chavan weighs Srikrishna option to dodge Adarsh red face state assembly Eknath Khadse said,The governments intentions have been suspect from the beginning. They know they cannot justify the role of their ministers in the state and at the Centre.

The Adarsh commission recorded the statements of former chief ministers Shinde,the late Vilasrao Deshmukh,and Ashok Chavan. A top government source said,The Adarsh report was put on the back burner after it was pointed out that a public debate on it would have led to a demand for action against Shinde.

According to this official,The file was brought to Shinde when he was chief minister. It was then forwarded to the concerned department. But there is enough evidence to prove that the origins of the project are from a time when he was chief minister.

A source in the Chief Ministers Office said,The chief minister is very upset as he is being forced to carry out this delicate balancing act so that the Adarsh report does not hit the Parliament session beginning Monday,during which the Centre wants to bring the Food Security Bill.