Congress passes the buck to BJP in AugstaWestland scam

The Congress Party on Tuesday passed the buck on to the Centre in connection with AugstaWestland deal and said that the United Progressive Alliance-II during its tenure initiated a CBI inquiry in the regard, but it was the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Government which neglected the probe so as to tweak the evidences in order to fix grand old party members.

Congress spokesperson Pramod Tiwari told ANI that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government purposely failed to pursue the investigation started by Congress, so now it's the saffron party's prerogative to find the culprit.

"The UPA in 2012 gave nod to CBI inquiry in order to unveil the truth but ever since the BJP government came in power this matter was neglected. They deliberately did not pay heed in the matter so that evidences can be tweaked and the money which was exchanged during the crime gets placed safely and that they can fix our members name in the scam," Tiwari said.

"It is now BJP's prerogative to find the culprits as they stalled the ongoing inquiry in the matter, had they pursued the investigation which was initiated by UPA II, by now the truth would have come out," he added.

Meanwhile the BJP trained its guns towards the Congress and said that VIP chopper deal was a scam designed under the leadership Sonia Gandhi to loot the country.

"The Congress has been unmasked. Sonia Gandhi says she is not scared of anyone that is correct as if she would have had any inhibitions in her she would have not committed such an act. This whole scam has been designed under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi by her Congress inmates to loot the nation," Shrikant Sharma told ANI.

"The VIP was carved in a way that the scam money of 350 crore can be brought here. But now all of it has been exposed. The Congress made comprises in this matter and so did the Defence Ministry in its tenure. The Congress even tried to stop investigative agencies like CBI and ED when the names of its leaders began to crop up in the scam. The Italian courts have punished culprits who were found guilty of bribing; but here the ones who have sought the bribe money are safe. We are asking a simple question that who took the bribe," he added.

Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari yesterday said the BJP-led NDA Government is not taking any vindictive actions with regard to the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal, adding the truth is coming out on the matter.

The CBI will again question former Indian Air Force chief S.P. Tyagi at its headquarter here in connection with alleged irregularities in the Rs. 3600 crore VVIP chopper deal with AgustaWestland.

The investigating agency had earlier on Saturday quizzed former IAF deputy chief J.S. Gujral in connection with this case.

Both Tyagi and Gujral were questioned at length in 2013, but the fresh round of questioning was necessitated after recent order of an Italian Court which indicated corruption in the deal.

The investigating agency had registered a case against Tyagi along with 13 others, including his cousins and European middlemen in the case.

BJP, AugstaWestland deal, Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, Sonia Gandhi, Chopper deal