Jaitely dismisses Cong’s charge of bargain for getting name of bribe takers
Our Correspondent /
The government today said that the bribe receiver in the Agusta westland Chopper deal has to be identified. Responding to the issue raised by the leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the investigations are on and it is at an advanced stage. He said, while the bribe givers have been sentenced by the Italian court, we have to find out who are recipients of the bribe in the VVIP helicopter deal concluded during UPA regime.
Strongly refuting the Congress charge that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Italian counterpart had met on this issue as quoted by the Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mr. Jaitley said, the government categorically refutes this allegation. Raising the issue, Mr. Azad wanted to know why the company was invited for the Make in India programme while the UPA government had blacklisted the company.
Later during the Zero Hour, nominated Rajya Sabha member Mr. Subramaniam Swamy named the Congress President saying that she is involved in the scam. This was vehemently opposed by the Congress members and they rushed to the well of the House demanding action against the member.
They argued that a person who is the member of the other house and not available to defend herself should not have been named. Deputy Chairman of the House asked the agitating Congress member to return to their seat. He adjourned the House repeatedly following the uproarious scenes created by the agitated Congress members.
In the Lok Sabha, Congress demanded a discussion on the Rs 3600 crore VVIP helicopter deal. As soon as the House took up the question Hour, the Party leader in the Lok Sabha, Mr. Mallikarjun Kharge said that some names have appeared in the media and allegations have been made.
Meanwhile, the Congress President denied the allegation that the party High Command is involved in this scam. Talking to media outside the house, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi said it is a part of government strategy of character assassination. Her political Secretary and senior Congress leader, Mr. Ahmed Patel also described the allegation against him absolutely baseless.