The BJP on Tuesday targeted the Congress top leadership over the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam in 2010, and the Ishrat Jahan issue, alleging that the UPA government stood with LeT to prove a “terrorist” as a nationalist.
“ Baat niklegi to phir door talak jayegi (a lot of big secrets will be unveiled once we start talking),” said Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, while hinting that the BJP will aim at the top leaders of the Congress in the scam involving purchase of VVIP choppers.
“An appellate court in Italy has sentenced the bribers in the case. What we want, AK Antony (former Defence Minister), for you to tell us now is whether any top leader from his party was involved. Please come clean,” said Prasad.
Prasad also commented on the remarks of former Home Minister P Chidambaram, who, in an interview to
“Mr. Chidambaram has said that the Home Minister does not sign affidavits. But do they also not look at the files? We want to know from Mr Chidambaram whether he cleared the file pertaining to Ishrat Jahan. Did he bypass the Home Secretary? In the first affidavit, an LeT module was mentioned. Was there not a political agenda in changing stand?” asked Prasad.
The issue came up in the BJP Parliamentary Party meeting early on Tuesday, where the Ishrat Jahan case as well as the AgustaWestland deal was deliberated, along with the row over President’s Rule in Uttarakhand.
Senior union ministers Arun Jaitley and M Venkaiah Naidu articulated the party’s position on different matters. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also attended the meeting. Jaitley told the MPs that the whole world knew Ishrat was a “terrorist and LeT operative”, but the Congress and Chidambaram allegedly tried to help her and whitewash the case, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told the media after the meeting.
“This was the first time that a Home Minister was trying to prove a terrorist as a nationalist. The Home Minister appeared to be working with LeT,” he charged, adding that it was done to politically finish Modi, the then Gujarat Chief Minister, and Amit Shah, then a minister in the State government.
“The Nation would not have seen something as abhorrent and shameful as this,” he said, adding that there would be a discussion on this in Parliament. The AgustaWestland issue was also taken up and the new revelations, he said, had exposed Congress and proved that it was all about scams.
The opposition Party would have to answer, he said.
The BJP also issued a whip asking all its members to be present in both Houses. On the Uttarakhand issue, the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs said the BJP was willing to discuss when the matter is scheduled for a debate in Parliament. However, there would not be any new discussion on this as it has to be taken up in Parliament anyway, he said.