BJP MP Kirit Somaiya has asked the ED and CBI to check Mr Gandhi’s “links”
BJP MP Kirit Somaiya has asked the ED and CBI to check Mr Gandhi’s “links”
The BJP and the Modi government have decided to step on the gas and target the Gandhi family on the controversial VVIP helicopter deal. Speculation is rife that defence minister Manohar Parrikar may reveal the involvement of some “big names” when he makes a statement in Parliament on Wednesday.
While the defence minister prepares to make his statement in the Rajya Sabha on the controversial helicopter deal on Wednesday, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, when asked about BJP MP Kirit Somaiya’s letter to the ED and CBI, replied: “I am always being targeted, happy to be targeted.” Reacting to Mr Gandhi’s statement, Union minister V.K. Singh said, “A lot of people like to play victim. If he (Rahul) wants to play that, he’s welcome to.”
The BJP said it was Mr Gandhi’s responsibility to answer questions over “scams” that occurred when his party was in government.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi, meanwhile, held a strategy meeting with senior leaders on Tuesday evening. BJP member Subramanian Swamy had dragged her name into the issue in the Upper House last week amid sharp protests from Congress members.
BJP MP Kirit Somaiya has asked the ED and CBI to check Mr Gandhi’s “links” with a real estate developer allegedly involved in the CWG scam and also the alleged connections of his political aide with a middleman in the AgustaWestland deal. Mr Somaiya had claimed that Guido Haschke, an alleged middleman in the helicopter deal, is common in both the scams and that he is linked to Christian Michel, an accused in the VVIP helicopter scam.
The BJP claimed that Mr Gandhi was trying to “play the victim” and should refrain from doing so. The party said that neither Mr Gandhi nor his mother, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, were being targeted. “Our target is corruption, not individuals. Congress has been a champion of corruption and it is natural that it will be held accountable,” BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma said. He went on to state that Mr Gandhi should answer questions on various scams which took place during the UPA regime. “Charges have been framed in many such cases, like the coal scam and 2G scam, and he is himself an accused in the National Herald case. He should not play victim and rather answer questions,” Mr Sharma said. The BJP national secretary made it clear that the party had come to power on the plank of a “corruption-free India” and it was “only working towards its goal”.
While the Congress continued with its aggressive stance and maintained that it was “not shying away” from a discussion on the deal in Parliament, Union minister of state for external affairs Gen. V.K. Singh (Retd) claimed that former IAF chief S.P. Tyagi, accused of helping AgustaWestland swing a Rs 3,600-crore deal for a dozen VVIP helicopters by changing specifications, could not have acted alone. “Only one man cannot be there. If the qualitative requirement is changed, somebody is involved in it or is it only Tyagi It’s a big line. Let’s not try to put a curtain and say only S.P. Tyagi is involved. There are many more people,” Gen. Singh said.
The BJP has been claiming that the Congress stands “exposed” in the AgustaWestland deal after “bribe-givers” were convicted by a court in Italy.
