How clean is Mr.Clean?

With great difficulty the Congress party (aka Sonia Gandhi) chose Prithviraj Chavan as successor to the scam-tainted Ashok Chavan. The choice was hailed as confirmation of high moral standards of the party. Now read the following report from The Hindu:

"A Right to Information (RTI) application seeking the names of owners of flats in the Chief Minister's quota for weaker sections has revealed that Maharashtra's new head Prithviraj Chavan owns a flat in Wadala under the scheme.

Official sources clarified that Mr. Chavan did own a flat under the MP's quota, but was taking steps to return it. The flat was bought for his deceased mother Premilatai Chavan, who was being treated for cancer in Mumbai.

Mr. Chavan did not own a house in Mumbai, and had applied for a house under the MPs quota so that members of the family could stay while his mother was being treated. However, by the time the flat was allotted, his mother passed away, it is learnt from sources. RTI activist Anil Galgali had applied for this information in 2008.

He told The Hindu that he filed an application for information on all the people who had obtained flats under the Chief Minister's five per cent quota.
The request was refused. Mr. Galgali appealed, which was heard in February 2009. It was in March 2009 that he got the list of 4,200 names who were allotted preferential flats under the quota from the year 1984 to 2009.

“I read the list of names and came across one P. Chavan who, I realised, is the man who was in the Prime Minister's Office,” Mr. Galgali said. Then, he went about asking for the file from the collector's office, and found this flat in Bhakti Park, Wadala, was for the weaker sections who cannot otherwise afford flats. “Mr. Chavan got the flat because of the then Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde,” Mr. Galgali alleged.

He said there was no income certificate, no domicile or no income tax documents. The applicant should also show that he did not own a house anywhere in Maharashtra, and should have an income below Rs. 1.5 lakh, which was the limit for eligibility at that time.

Mr. Chavan's stated income in the application form was Rs. 76,000 per year. Besides, he applied for the flat on May 17, 2003, and on May 19 his application was considered eligible. The letter of allotment was issued on May 20, 2003. He paid Rs. 3,66,969 for the flat which measures 1,032.74 square feet. Mr. Galgali said the per square foot rate of the flat was over Rs. 13,000-Rs.14,000 at present, and questioned how the income could be only Rs. 76,000 as shown.

He said there was double violation as not only was Mr. Chavan not eligible for the flat, but he had also given it out on rent.

The Congress said Mr. Chavan was clean, this proves he is not, said Mr. Galgali, who said he was not affiliated to any political party and neither was this motivated by any other considerations.
Since this information was available in 2009, when asked if any news reports had appeared at that time, Mr. Galgali said there were articles then too, but this time, since Mr. Chavan is the Chief Minister now, there was more interest. “Mr. Chavan should return the flat and set an example.”
Of the 4,200 names on that list, Mr. Galgali asked for the files on a few “famous” names, including Mr. Chavan, whose information he got within a week. “There were some 10,000 to 12,000 files and I did not photocopy all of them,” he clarified. The 36-year-old freelance journalist has been filing RTI applications for a while, and has totted up 500 requests since 2002. Now he has a request for those allotted flats under the Chief Minister's two per cent quota, where one has to pay the entire amount for the flat. That information too, is being delayed."

Is there any honest politician in India today? If such a person really exists, he must be hiding somewhere being mortally afraid that in case he reveals himself he will be lynched to death for betraying the political class.