The Congress-headed Public Accounts Committee of Parliament has decided to take up a >2013 Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal, apart from several other defence related issues.
This follows a demand made by members of the BJP, supported by the Trinamool Congress, and the Biju Janata Dal to take up the report in the first meeting of the PAC on May 18. Vijay Goel of the BJP, supported by Bhratruhari Mahtab of the BJD, had made the demand in the last meeting. At that time, former minister in the UPA government and chairman of the PAC K V Thomas had remained non-committal.
He had told the committee that the C&AG report had no new light to throw on facts since 2013, and that the previous PAC under BJP’s Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi had decided not to take it up for want of new facts.
BJP members had, however, persisted, with the meeting getting heated and Congress members demanding the taking up of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet ‘Make in India’ project for examination. Sources said BJP members were keen to discuss the chopper deal issue and were also in a mood to seek voting in the committee if Congress members were disinclined to take it up. Of the 15-member committee, eight are from the BJP.
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