New Delhi: Training its gun on the Congress Party for staging a walkout from Parliament during a discussion on the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday said it was the weakness of the grand old party which forced them to consider such a move.
He also said that he did not take anybody’s name in particular in Parliament, and therefore, the walkout of the Congress from Parliament only suggested that there was someone very powerful was involved in corruption.
“First of all you should see the situation. I did not take anybody’s name and, therefore, there was no reason for the Congress Party to stage a walkout. They staged a walkout because the circumstantial evidences which I produced in Parliament only showed that someone very powerful was involved in corruption. Former defence minister AK Antony himself had accepted about corruption. Staging a walkout from Parliament was a sign of their weakness,” Parrikar told ANI.
“I will not take anybody’s name but I believe that all angles should be investigated and all documents need proper reading… We did a lot of things in the last two years. We are seriously investigating the case,” he added.
Congress leaders had on Wednesday evening staged a walkout from the Rajya Sabha after being dissatisfied with Parrikar’s statement on the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal.
Alleging that the procurement process in the AgustaWestland deal was violated, Parrikar had said that the former UPA regime had created ‘single-vendor situation’ to benefit from the same.
Parrikar said the UPA regime tried to take the longer route of writing to the embassy and the court etc. instead of taking action against the company.
He also said that the government probe ‘will focus on the role of those named in the judgment of the Italian court.
The Agusta deal was signed in 2010 and was cancelled in 2014, after the allegations of corruption surfaced. (ANI)