JOIN USBJP wants PAC debate on AgustaWestland deal
The BJP on Wednesday said the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) should discuss the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam even as the central audit watchdog held its first meeting after it was reconstituted earlier this month.
But the move was opposed by the Congress.
During the meeting, chaired by Congress MP and panel chief K V Thomas, BJP MP Vijay Goel insisted that PAC take up the 2013 Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on "irregularities" in the chopper deal. He found support in BJD's Barthruhari Mahtab, who said there should not be any bar on PAC taking up issues that are being investigated by agencies like the CBI or those pending before the courts. However, Congress members claimed that the report was considered by former PAC chairman and BJP veteran Murli Manohar Joshi, who had decided against taking it up. “There is nothing new in that report. We cannot discuss things just because it has come up in the media again,” a Congress MP told DH.
Thomas did not comment on the Agusta deal, but said members can write to him on subjects they wished to discuss.
Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress’ Sukhendu Sekhar Roy made a veiled reference to CAG Shashi Kant Sharma with regard to the scam. Roy wondered whether it would be a conflict of interest to discuss defence deals in the presence of Sharma, a former Defence secretary.
Responding, Thomas said Sharma’s appointment as CAG had been settled by the Supreme Court.
Shantaram Naik of the Congress also sought a discussion on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Make in India programme, and wanted PAC to take up the CAG report on PPP projects.
Back and forth
During the meeting, chaired by Congress MP and panel chief K V Thomas, BJP MP Vijay Goel insisted that PAC take up the 2013 Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on "irregularities" in the chopper deal
He found support in BJD's Barthruhari Mahtab, who said there should not be any bar on PAC taking up issues that are being investigated by agencies like the CBI or those pending before the courts
However, Congress members claimed that the report was considered by former PAC chairman and BJP veteran Murli Manohar Joshi, who had decided against taking it up
“There is nothing new in that report. We cannot discuss things just because it has come up in the media again,” a Congress MP told DH