JOIN USSubramanian Swamy, who is leading the BJP’s campaign in the AgustaWestland chopper scam, said on Thursday that he will prove the charges against Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in court.
Stating that he has no personal vendetta against Sonia, Swamy also stopped short of questioning the Narendra Modi government’s handling of the case so far but said, “Somebody was trying to protect somebody. In the last two years, attempts (were) made not to take the case forward.”
Swamy told Karan Thapar on India Today TV that former NSA and close aide of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Brajesh Mishra had rooted for the chopper, accusing him of working for the Congress and being its “trojan horse”.
Claiming that the verdict by an Italian court mentioned Sonia’s name “at least four times”, Swamy said the Congress president should be questioned over her role in the chopper deal. “I can have an opinion that Sonia Gandhi is guilty. She is now a suspect, a crime has been committed and I have evidence of it. The legal process will take its course and she should be questioned.”
He reiterated that middleman Christian Michel’s letter clearly points towards Sonia Gandhi. “The letter stated that she is the driving force behind the deal. The fact of the matter is that it (is) the duty of the police to question all those whom they think have some knowledge about the matter.”
The former law minister rejected Michel’s claims that he was under pressure from the Modi government to incriminate the Gandhi family in the chopper deal. “He (Michel) didn’t say it to the court of law. His statement has no locus. Michel is sweating now. He is being used by the Congress.”
Cong hits back at Swamy on Agusta
The Congress on Thursday asked the government how BJP member Subramanian Swamy got access to sensitive and confidential files of the CBI and the ED in the AgustaWestland issue, DHNS reports from New Delhi.
Raising the issue through a point of order, Deputy Leader of Congress Anand Sharma said during the discussion on Wednesday, sensitive documents of CBI and ED were referred to by Swamy.
The House “must know how an honourable member or rather less honourable member” was given access to sensitive and secret files, which he has refused to authenticate and place on the table of the House, Sharma said.
Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said the rule will take its own course if Swamy had not complied with his ruling that all documents he was quoting must be authenticated by him and placed on the table of the House.
Amid the Congress members’ protest, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said Swamy had authenticated and placed on the table of the House, the documents he had quoted. Swamy has taken care of the issue, Naqvi said.
Swamy, during discussion on VVIP choppers issue in Rajya Sabha said, he quoted Italian court’s documents to charge that a bribe of 30 million euros was paid in the Rs 3,600 crore deal for 12 VVIP choppers. Out of this, 6 million euros went to IAF personnel, 8.4 million euros to bureaucrats and Rs 125 crore to “AP”, Swamy had claimed.