The Congress put up a spirited defence to the allegations of involvement of its leaders in the AgustaWestland deal with its legal eagle Abhishek Singhvi leading the charge in the Rajya Sabha and Anand Sharma and former Defence Minister AK Antony reiterating that the NDA regime was trying to “ vilify the head of a political party” on the basis of mere “insinuation and innuendo” and was attempting to cover up for “disillusionment” with its misgovernance.
As spark flew in the Upper House, Singhvi countered point-by-point allegations of wrongdoings levelled by the BJP against the previous UPA Government. While defending the UPA dispensation, Singhvi attributed “innuendos” against its leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi or Ahmed Patel to the “visceral hatred” of the BJP.
“The interest appears to keep the pot boiling, and keep finger pointing, not to reach a conclusion,” he said alleging that the BJP was not interested in finding the real culprits. Saying that the ruling dispensation suffered from “hubris” and “arrogance of power,” Singhvi said the Congress is not going to be intimidated by such tactics.
Ridiculing the BJP’s attempt to link certain initials like “CP, VP and AP” to the deal, Singhvi cited the hawala case in which an initial ‘lKA’ had featured and the High Court had said the presence of initials constituted no evidence.
It was “hypocrisy” of the ruling party in applying “double standards” as leader of the House Arun Jaitley had in the hawala case argued initials have no evidential value, Singhvi said.
He said that ‘AP’ could stand for many people, including the present Chief Minister of Gujarat. The Congress leader said not a single allegation that was being touted was part of CBI or ED’s findings.
“We are relying on the interpretations and misrepresentations of an Italian court,” he said, adding the official translation of the judgment is still not available. He said the name of Congress president Sonia Gandhi merely figures in one letter where it is said that she will be among the VVIPs who would fly in the helicopter.
He added that even Guido Haschke, one of the alleged middlemen, had also said that he does not know what the initial ‘AP’ stands for. “I hope we collect all APs. That illustrates the problem we face when we start using initials,” Singhvi said.
Watched by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Antony, Singhvi said while his party is not claiming “everything is hunky dory” with regard to the deal, he alleged that Modi Government was trying to “foist corruption charges against those not involved.”
“We believe that something wrong happened, my dispute is not that,” the Congress leader said asking the Government whether it was not damaging investigation and letting culprits escape, by targetting its rivals.
He said that luckily it is understood that the word ‘Family’, which has come up in the case, pertains to the “Tyagi family”, otherwise for some people it would have meant “only one family”, an apparent reference to the Gandhis.
He stressed that Antony as Defence Minister had cancelled the deal and ordered a CBI probe. The UPA Government, he said had paid Rs 1,586 crore but recovered Rs 2,062 cr from AgustaWestland besides three helicopters worth Rs 900 crore were impounded.
Singhvi raised questions as to why the NDA Government had allowed AgustaWestland’s parent companies, including Finmeccanica, to continue to do business. He also claimed that one such entity had been given Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval and it had even participated in Aero displays at Yellahanka Air Force Station.
He debunked the claims that specifications in the AgustaWestland deal were modified in violation of established norms. Earlier, BJP MP Bhupendra yadav quoted extensively from a CAG report on the matter and claimed that the single-vendor aspect was ignored, tests were allowed to be conducted abroad and even the specifications of altitude were reduced to 4500 feet from the earlier benchmark of 6000 feet.
Singhvi, however, mentioned that it was Brajesh Mishra, the Principal Secretary to then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who had mentioned that a specification of 6,000 feet should be reduced as it was leading to a single vendor situation.
Singhvi also said that holding trials of helicopters is not a “sin” and it is allowed under the defence procurement policies. He said the Government appeared to be pressing these allegations in view of its recent electoral losses in some of the States. He also referred to a TV interview of an Italian judge in which he says that there is no evidence against Sonia Gandhi.
Before the debate began, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar requested that he be allowed to place the facts chronologically before the House, but it was rejected by Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien after Opposition members vociferously protested saying such a move is against tradition.