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UPA violated rules in favour of AgustaWestland: BJP
Congress party has accused BJP of lying and misleading people in the AgustaWestland deal scam. Briefing media in New Delhi, party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala asked why NDA government gave protection to AgustaWestland and Finmeccanica for the last two years. He said smear campaigns by BJP cannot cover up the fact that BJP helped AgustaWestland.
In Thiruvananthapuram, former defence minister AK Antony asked the Narendra Modi government to take action against the “bribe-takers” in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal.
Addressing media in while kicking off his Assembly poll campaign, Mr Antony was pressed with questions on the Rs. 3,600 crore chopper deal inked in 2010.
“The CBI, enforcement agencies and all those who matter are now under the control of the present Modi government. Action has been taken against the bribe givers, so now action should be taken against the bribe takers,” said Mr Antony, who was defence minister when the scam was unearthed.
He said that AgustaWestland is now involved in the Make in India campaign of the Modi government.
“We request the government not to involve this company in the Make in India campaign,” said Mr Antony.
He said during the trial in the Italian court, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Ministry of Defence officials participated at every stage. All the witnesses were cross-examined, and at the time no names were revealed, he added.
Meanwhile BJP has alleged that during UPA regime, rules were violated to favour AgustaWestland in VVIP chopper deal.
Briefing media in New Delhi, party spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao alleged that the helicopter scam was fixed from Day One with AgustaWestland, in collusion with brokers and middlemen.
He said the Congress party stands exposed with the revelations made in the Italian Court. The spokesperson said Congress should come out with the truth before the nation.
Meanwhile, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said UPA must answer who received kickbacks in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal.
Briefing media, the Minister said the main question is who received the bribe. He said Italian High Court equivalent had clearly said that political corruption was 15.8 million euros, which amounts to 125 crore rupees.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley disputed the statement of former Defence Minister A K Antony that the UPA regime had blacklisted AugustaWestland Finmeccanica after the bribe issue came out on the chopper deal.
He was interacting with the audience in Thiruvananthapuram after releasing the NDA vision document for the May 16 Kerala assembly polls.
Targeting Antony, he said the statement given by him to the party suffers from a misnomer as much as its mentions that the company was blacklisted by the UPA regime and that it was lifted by the NDA.