BJP president Amit Shah attacked Congress president Sonia Gandhi again asking her to explain at whose behest the terms of contract for VVIP chopper was tweaked to help the AugustWestland.
Posing a series of questions to the Congress leadership, Mr. Shah, while talking to the media persons in Ahmedabad, asked why the deal was "put on hold" in 2013 when the bribery charges had already appeared in 2012 when the deal was finalised.
“The tender had the condition that only original equipment manufacturers could file the tender. Still AgustaWestland, despite not being an original equipment manufacturer, was allowed to file the tender. Now my question to Sonia Gandhi is that on whose behest this tampering with the original conditions was done,” he said, adding "the chopper deal was finalized after negotiation by the top ministers of the UPA government."
Mr. Shah also asked why the conditions for the chopper's field trial in India were relaxed and the trial conducted in the company's premises, again tweaking the tender condition. "Was the defence minister aware that the condition for field trial was relaxed to help a particular company and was it not against the interests of the country?
According to the BJP president, the Congress and its president Sonia Gandhi are "misleading the country on the issue."
“The Congress is trying to mislead the people by saying that the entire amount of money paid to AgustaWestland has been retrieved. This is incorrect as only a little amount has been recovered so far," he said, asking Sonia Gandhi to come clean on the scam.
