No direct indictment of Sonia in VVIP chopper deal: Cong

Facing one of the most serious challenges over the VVIP chopper deal controversy, the Congress party marshalled its defence by insisting there was no direct indictment of either Sonia Gandhi or her aide Ahmed Patel.

On the other hand, the party’s speakers, including Ghulam Nabi Azad, A K Antony, Anand Sharma and Abhishek Manu Singhvi sought to turn the tables by accusing the Modi government of trying to “foist false corruption charges” on opposition leaders. Seeking to make a point-by-point rebuttal, Singhvi, who is a leading Supreme Court lawyer, directly accused senior BJP leaders of harbouring “visceral hatred” against Sonia, Rahul Gandhi and Ahmed Patel. Singhvi, the first speaker from the opposition ranks, insisted that the government must stop dilly-dallying on the pace of the probe and instead bring investigation to a speedy conclusion so that the reputation of Congress leaders was not tarred.

He rejected the BJP attempts to link ‘AP’ mentioned in the documents submitted to the Italian court to Patel, the political secretary of Sonia.

“There are many ‘APs’ in India, including the present Gujarat Chief Minister,” said Singhvi, who was heard in rapt attention by the Treasury benches.

“We are relying on the interpretations and misrepresentations of an Italian court,” Singhvi said, adding Sonia’s name merely figures in one letter where it is said that she would be among the VVIPs who would fly in the helicopter.

Antony made three specific demands – take action against the bribe giver and the bribe taker; blacklist the defence supplier and remove the arms major from any Make in India project announced by the government. After Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar’s reply, the Congress saw merit in BSP supremo Mayawati’s demand for a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the allegations of kickbacks in the VVIP chopper controversy.

 Tyagi grilled by CBI again

Former Air Force chief S P Tyagi and a lawyer Gautam Khaitan were questioned by the CBI in the AgustaWestland case on Wednesday even as Enforcement Directorate widened its probe by trailing “cash” suspected to have been paid as bribe in the VVIP chopper deal, DHNS reports from New Delhi.

Khaitan, whom the CBI accuse of being the conduit for channelling the bribe money, was questioned for the first time after the judgement of an Italian court while Tyagi faced the questions for the third consecutive day.

 Tyagi has been called by the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday.

According to CBI sources, Khaitan had admitted to establishing IDS Tunisia, a subsidiary of IDS India.