The smooth functioning of both the Houses of Parliament on Tuesday could be an indication of the lull before the storm. With Defence Minister all set to initiate discussion on AgustaWestland scam in the post-lunch session in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, the Opposition Congress and the ruling BJP’s posturing outside the House have set the stage for fireworks.
Having been cornered by the Congress on an adverse report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) a day earlier, the BJP on Tuesday targeted the constitutional authority, albeit indirectly. The responsibility to neutralize the effect of the CAG’s report was given to former army chief and presently a union minister General VK Singh.
Singh in an interview on Tuesday sought to drag in CAG Shashikant Sharma, who was then Defence Secretary. Singh told the channel that he would have quit had he been named in a scandal. The MoS (MEA) also said that the former IAF chief SP Tyagi, accused of helping AgustaWestland swing a Rs 3,600 crore deal for a dozen VVIP choppers by changing specifications, could not have acted alone and many people must have been involved in the scam.
The Minister who had a running feud with the Congress government when he was chief of army staff also said that Congress president Sonia and vice-president Rahul Gandhi should stop playing the victim card. Rahul Gandhi earlier in the day had said that he was happy to be targeted in the wake of BJP’s attempts to drag him into CWG and the VVIP chopper scam. Reacting to Gandhi’s comment, Singh said, “A lot of people want to play victim. If he wants to play that he is most welcome.”
Rahul Gandhi’s comments came on BJP MP Kirit Somaiya sending a letter to ED and CBI requesting them to check Gandhi’s links with real estate developer Emaar-MGF allegedly involved in the CWG scam and also the alleged connections of his political aide with a middleman in the AgustaWestland deal. Somaiya had said that Guido Haschke, an alleged middleman in the chopper deal is common in both the scams and that he is linked to Christian Michel, an accused in the VVIP chopper scam.
The BJP has alleged that promoters of Emaar-MGF are related to Kanishka Singh, a close aide of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi. To this Kanishka Singh in a statement said, “Mr Somaiya’s allegations about me are entirely baseless, false and with an ulterior political motive. Somaiya has been making these false allegations about me with malafide intent since February 2013.” Kanishka demanded that Somaiya should provide proof at the earliest so that there can be proper investigation and the guilty be prosecuted.
Later in the evening Emaar MGF through a statement said it had no “business links” with Rahul Gandhi’s aide Kanishka Singh while Guido Hashke –alleged middleman in the controversial chopper deal – was an independent director for an “extremely brief period”. Justifying appointment of Hashke on its board, Emaar MGF said that Hashke was a registered consultant to the World Bank for Asset Trading and Debt Restructuring and was appointed considering his experience in the international financial sector.