LS polls: Sonia Gandhi defends ticket to ‘tainted’ Ashok Chavan

New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday brazened it out on corruption issue, as it justified ticket to Ashok Chavan. Defending the party’s decision to field the allegedly tainted former Maharashtra Chief Minister, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said, Mr Chavan has not been barred by any law from contesting elections.

Mr Chavan received the backing of party president on a day when he filed his nomination papers from Nanded Lok Sabha constituency in Maharashtra. The party had announced his candidature on Tuesday.

Mr Chavan, who quit as the CM in 2010 after his name cropped up in the Adarsh Housing scam, is reported to have said in Nanded that he has done “no wrong” and that he has not been disqualified from contesting polls. He also said his conscience was clear on the Adarsh issue.

Meanwhile In a possible relief for former Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan, the CBI on Wednesday moved the Bombay HC seeking permission to delete his name from the FIR in the Adarsh Housing scam case. The revision plea is likely to be heard by the High Court on Thursday. The move by CBI came after the trial court refused to delete his name from the FIR filed in 2011.