He said the PAC, when it was headed by his predecessor and senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, had examined the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in 2013 on the deal but “he could not find anything illegal” in it.
“If there is something more, we are ready to examine. We are not running away from responsibility,” the senior Congress leader, after chairing a meeting of officials in the PAC.
He said over 173 items based on various reports of the CAG, pertaining to several ministries and departments, have been proposed by the members for the panel’s examination in the year 2016-17.
In the first meeting of the newly-constituted PAC, a strong demand was made by members of BJP to take up the CAG report on the VVIP chopper deal.
Signalling a political tug of war ahead, the first meeting of PAC on May 18 had seen a strong demand from BJP members to take up the AgustaWestland issue, while a Congress member had asked the panel to examine the implementation of the PM’s pet Make in India scheme.
In the meeting that was called to decide on subjects to be taken up during its one year-tenure, Vijay Goel (BJP) had said the PAC should take up the 2013 CAG report on “irregularities” in the VVIP
chopper deal.