BJP Chief Amit Shah today launched scathing attack on Congress President Sonia Gandhi over the VVIP chopper deal and asked her to reveal names of those persons who received kickbacks in the scam.
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Baiting the Congress, Swamy said they were ignorant of the Indian constitution and mentioned a European nation, a reference which was expunged by Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien later and media was asked not to report it.
Swamy, who took oath in Rajya Sabha on April 26, created uproar in the House by his remarks on the AgustaWestland scam. He has also said that Sonia Gandhi is being protected. Lashing out at the senior NDA ministers and BJP leaders for alleging that many senior Congress leaders were involved in the scam, Azad said, “since student days, we have known BJP leaders to specialise in spreading manufactured falsehood. However, Article 27 and others prohibit the state from financing a minority institution”, Swamy said, and Congress members again raised the pitch.
The AgustaWestland matter started when the UPA Govt made a deal with the UK-based company during February 2010 for purchasing 12 AW101 helicopters for the Indian Air Force for Rs 3,600 crore.
The Supreme Court Bench comprising Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justices R Banumathi and U Lalit directed to enlist the AugustaWestland PIL after the Advocate MR ML Sharma said that it was a very urgent matter that demanded to be heard at the earliest. The two contended that the statement on the issue should have been given in the House by the Defence Minister as Rajya Sabha is in session, party sources said. Let them (government) take my name, I am not afraid of anyone because there is no base to that allegation. “BJP government needs to introspect whether mud-slinging and muckraking can ever replace the truth”, said Surjewala. We in the Congress have nothing to hide, on the contrary it is the Modi government that is shielding the corrupt and is benefactor to the corrupt.
Dismissing BJP’s charge that the Congress had compromised national security in the chopper deal, he said that the national security had got compromised when in the Vajpayee government, the then External Affairs Minister had accompanied dreaded terrorists to Kandahar.
“We will wait for a week to see if Modi orders any arrest in the case”.
Party spokesman R P N Singh accused the Defence Ministry of coming out with “half truths” in its clarification on the deal yesterday.
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“And later the corruption which has already been proved by an Italy court, Congress party in different forms of questions wants to mislead the people of the country, ” he added.
