Temperatures soared both within and outside Parliament on Wednesday over the AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter controversy as the BJP and the Congress took on each other. Angry Congress members forced repeated adjournments in the Upper House after newly-nominated MP Subramanian Swamy mentioned the Congress president’s name in connection with the Rs3,600-crore deal marred by allegations of kickbacks.
Outside Parliament, the ruling party took on Sonia Gandhi over her rejection of allegations by saying she should use her Italian connections to ask the court there why her name and those of senior leaders of her party have come out after two years.
The ball for confrontation in the Upper House was set rolling by leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad when he referred to a news report saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi had struck a deal with his Italian counterpart. Rejecting outright Azad’s reference to Modi’s meeting with the Italian Prime Minister, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley asserted in the House that the report was, “false and untrue in entirety. No such meeting was held at all.”
The Ministry of External Affairs also refuted the charge saying, “There was no meeting between Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Matteo Renzi of Italy as part of the PM’s bilateral meetings at the UN General Assembly in September 2015.”
Meanwhile, CBI Director Anil Sinha briefed the Prime Minister over the progress into the agency’s probe into the chopper deal.
On her part, the Congress president rejected the charges terming them as “false and baseless”, “vendetta” and an attempt at “character assassination.” Sonia also said she was “not afraid” of being “cornered” on the issue. Her party colleague and Rajya Sabha member Ahmed Patel also dismissed the allegations against him and the party as “absolutely baseless” and dared the Government to “hang” him if he was guilty. Contradicting Sonia’s charge of “vendetta”, senior BJP leader and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv
Pratap Rudy retorted by asking her to use her “old relations” in Italy to find out why an Italian court mentioned her name in the AgustaWestland corruption case and claimed that her name “figures” in the court documents.
He said investigations into the alleged scam will be speeded up by the Central Government. The BJP has given notices in both the Houses of Parliament for discussion on the issue.
Rudy also said the Government will fulfill the Congress chief’s demand for a thorough probe, whose modalities will be decided once Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has made a statement in Parliament on the issue.
In the lok Sabha, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge raised the issue, seeking a discussion on the deal saying allegations were levelled against their leadership.
In the Rajya Sabha, Swamy raised the issue during Zero Hour and said cognizance of the statement of an accused in a written statement in the Italian High Court has to be taken. Swamy then said the statement mentioned the Congress president’s name, which immediately resulted in pandemonium in the House.
Congress members rushed into the Well, raising slogans and some were seen gesticulating towards Swamy. Some marshals then urged the Congress members to restrain themselves and step back. Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien then adjourned the House for ten minutes.
Agitated members demanded Swamy withdraw his insinuations when the House reassembled even as J Kurien expunged his reference to the Congress president. The Chair said he was not “admonishing” the MP as it was his first day in the House. The Chair, however, said Swamy was well-versed with the rules as he was an MP in the 1970s. Kurien said no charges can be made against an MP of the other House.
Earlier, Azad cited a media report of an interview with middleman James Christian Michel, accused middleman in the deal, who claimed that Modi and his Italian counterpart met on the sidelines of a UN Summit in September last year. The middleman said Modi offered to release the two Italian Marines facing murder trial in India in exchange for information about the Gandhi family, Azad said.
He then went on to claim that two things happened after this reported meeting and said the judgment was pronounced and Marines were allowed to return to Italy. Azad also said the UPA Government had blacklisted AgustaWestland but the NDA Government removed the company from the list and allowed to take part in “Make in India” expo.
Jaitley said the principal issue was to identify bribe takers in the deal even as the bribe givers were known and investigations were in an advanced stage.