BJP plans to corner Cong in Parliament over Agusta deal
NEW DELHI: The ruling BJP on Tuesday asked the Congress to come clean on “bribe-takers” in a controversial chopper deal but the opposition party hit back by accusing the NDA government of indulging in “vicious propaganda”.
The political slugfest erupted after a Milan court convicted two Italians for paying kickbacks to Indian officials in the 2010 chopper deal that was scrapped by the previous UPA government in 2014.
Though the Italian court did not indict any Indian, the BJP plans to corner the Congress in Parliament over references in the judgment to middlemen talking about ‘Signora Gandhi’ being the “driving force” behind the deal and referring to senior leaders Manmohan Singh, Ahmed Patel and Oscar Fernandez.
AgustaWestland, a subsidiary of Italian defence giant Finmeccanica, allegedly paid more than R375 crore as bribe to secure the R3,727-crore contract to supply 12 VVIP helicopters to the Indian Air Force.
“Now that bribe-givers have been convicted, what should happen to the bribe-takers? Will Mr (AK) Antony publicly give a statement? Will he accept his partymen are involved in the scam?” Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said at a press conference.
Antony was defence minister when the deal was sealed in February 2010.
The Italian court document contains a note sent by a British “consultant” to a company official in 2008, which read: “Mrs Gandhi is the driving force behind VIP... she will not fly any more in the Mi-8.” The Mi-8 helicopters used by the IAF for VIPs are being phased out.
In the note, the middleman wanted company officials in India to advise the British high commissioner to target Gandhi’s close advisers.
BJP president Amit Shah and Union ministers Arun Jaitley and Venkaiah Naidu met after the court verdict to mull the party’s next move.
Party sources said they will raise the issue in both Houses and seek a debate. The ruling alliance is on the back foot over the crisis in Uttarakhand with the Congress accusing the BJP of trying to topple opposition governments.
Prasad alleged the UPA government raised obstacles in a CBI probe into the scam.
Congress leader Anand Sharma, however, dismissed the corruption charges and said it was the UPA that cancelled the contract and blacklisted the company.
“We also lodged a case in Italy and confiscated helicopters. The question is that a company was blacklisted for violation of integrity pact. Why did the BJP government remove it from the blacklist?”
Sharma said the BJP government allowed the company to bid for projects in the navy. “PM Narendra Modi invited AgustaWestland to participate in Make in India when he met his Italian counterpart in New York.”