The controversial AgustaWestland deal for choppers was signed when Sonia Gandhi-led Congress was in power. (AFP Photo)
Highlights
- Congress afraid Sonia Gandhi may be indicted in VVIP chopper scam: BJP
- Party rejects allegations she was involved corrupt payments linked to it
- Congress walks out of Lok Sabha demanding court-monitored probe into scam
The Congress is so unnerved by allegations of corruption that it has launched a "Sonia Bacahao Abhiyan (Mission Save Sonia)", union minister
Ravi Shankar Prasad said today, suggesting that the opposition party's moves betray a panic about its chief,
Sonia Gandhi, being indicted in the
AgustaWestland scam.
"She has said 'I am not afraid of anyone'. But one should be afraid of public shaming," Mr Prasad said on a day which saw the Agusta helicopter order, made when the Congress was last in power, take prime spot in Parliament.
The Congress has rejected accusations that leaders including Mrs Gandhi were either complicit in, or blocked investigations into, corrupt payments linked to an order of a dozen helicopters from Agusta, owned by Italian defence giant Finmeccanica.
Ravi Shankar Prasad said the government is committed to rooting out corruption.
A Milan court recently sentenced the former bosses of Finmeccanica and its AgustaWestland unit to jail terms for corruption in the India deal. Documents it referred to included letters from middlemen that mentioned Mrs Gandhi and other Congress leaders as people to pursue or influence to land the deal.
The CBI and the Enforcement Directorate, which tackles financial crimes, are trying to piece together who was bribed in India for the helicopter scam.
In Parliament,
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said the Congress' misdoings stand exposed. Congress lawmakers walked out in protest, demanding that the Supreme Court monitor the investigation into the helicopter deal, which was signed in 2010 and cancelled in 2014. Earlier this morning, Mrs Gandhi
led a Congress rally which turned into her courting arrest, along with her son and party Vice President, Rahul - a move in keeping with the aggressive strategy the Congress is exercising.