AgustaWestland deal : BJP and Congress spar in Rajya Sabha showdown
Leading the defence of the Congress in the face of BJP attack, senior member Abhishek Manu Singhvi said charges of corruption leveled against Congress are baseless as the government is trying to divert attention from getting to the root of the Agusta scam.
Reading the judgment of the Italian court, Sanghvi said “We have no evidence against Sonia Gandhi. Only a mention of her in the facts, as a person who will fly in these machines. The same holds true for Manmohan Singh. We have faith in the loosely translated report of a judge of another country but dont trust our own courts.”
“Just because you have inbuilt hatred for certain names doesn’t mean they shall be put in place for initials used,” he said.
“How can you have hypocrisy and double standard? we have to be more matured,” he asked.
Before Sanghvi, BJP member Bhupendra Yadav had initiated the discussion, accusing the Congress of creating conditions to favour the Italian company for the purchase.
“All defence procurements need to be made transparent,” he said.
Why did UPA not initiate an investigation into who all took bribes in the #AgustaWestland matter?" he questioned.
Earlier, the House witnessed an uproar as Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar started giving chronological details of the AgustaWestland deal.
"This matter started in 2002, just wanted to inform the house the chronological order of events in the matter, without any comments," Parrikar said.
Parrikar’s statement in the Rajya Sabha came in the wake of the ruling BJP mounting attacks on the Congress, particularly aiming at party president Sonia Gandhi, over the deal.
The BJP has alleged that the former UPA government had allegedly eased some key clauses to benefit the UK-based AgustaWestland, with whom India had signed a Rs 3,727-crore contract for 12 AW-101 choppers in February 2010.
Ahead of the proceedings in Parliament, Congress president Sonia Gandhi chaired a meeting of party MPs while Prime Minister Narendra Modi also met senior ministers on Wednesday.
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