With the Congress refusing the back-off from its aggressive stance on the AgustaWestland Chopper scam issue, the government on Sunday made its intentions of filing a strong counter clear. The Congress has announced a Parliament siege on coming Friday against the campaign of “deceit and deliberate lies” against Opposition.
The floor managers for the ruling party for now have decided to field Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar to lead its attack. An indication of this came on Sunday when Parrikar said that he would place all facts along with a detailed chronology on the AgustaWestland chopper deal before Parliament on May 4.
The date chosen is significant, as the Supreme Court is likely to pass an order in politically significant Uttarakhand President’s rule case on May 3. As reported earlier, an order either way is set to put the Centre in a spot, as the proposed Congress march would also target alleged attempts by Prime Minister Narendra Modi government to “topple” duly elected governments in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
Parrikar, while talking to reporters in Panaji, however, conceded that the government for now may not have much proof in hand on the AgustaWestland matter. He told reporters that those who received kickbacks will not leave behind the proof to prosecute them but the government will make every effort to nail them. Soon after the matter was raised by BJP MP Subramnian Swamy last week naming Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the principal Opposition launched a virulent counter fielding former Defence Minister AK Antony, who alleged that “Modi government was indulging in this cover up conspiracy to hide its sinister role in helping and promoting a banned company AgustaWestland and its parent company, Finmecanica. The most intriguing part of the conspiracy is why the Modi government is permitting a blacklisted company... to get clearances from Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) and facilitate its entry as a partner or sub-contractor to various Indian corporates.”
Parrikar on Sunday said that he would challenge the Congress to show the UPA government’s order blacklisting the AgustaWestland company. He drove home the point that it was during the NDA government that the firm was banned. Antony has however already said that blacklisting by the NDA government was a mere formality as they had processed the matter for blacklisting the company before demitting office in 2014. An Italian court, which convicted AgustaWestland chief Giuseppe Orsi, had reportedly described how the firm paid bribes to top Congress leaders to bag the Rs 3,600 crore VVIP chopper deal.