Quattrocchi a dead issue: Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: Even as Congress is facing criticism from the opposition after CBI removed Ottavio Quattrocchi from its most wanted list, AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said it is a "dead issue" which is repeatedly raised ahead of every election.

"It is an embarrassment (that it is raised repeatedly). It is a dead issue. It is repeatedly raised. It is finished. There is no interest (in the issue)," Gandhi told a press conference here.

He was responding to a question why the Bofors case is raked up repeatedly ahead of every election and whether it was an embarrassment to the party and the Gandhi family.

The CBI had recently dropped the name of Italian businessman Quattrocchi, accused of receiving kickbacks in procuring Bofors guns for the armed forces, from its red-corner list.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had earlier said India would be "looked down" by the world community if the red corner notice against Quattrocchi was not removed.

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To a question whether CBI is being misused by ruling regime, the 39-year-old Amethi MP said it was a "systematic issue" and it was not a question of one particular agency.

"Every party which is in power could put pressure on institutions. It is a fact," he said, adding that every government tries to push its people into such agencies.

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