Bihar Governor Satya Pal Malik's recent comments that Rajiv Gandhi was a "good and honest" person and some other Congress leaders were allegedly involved in the Bofors deal case today prompted a lawyer and BJP leader to asked him to reveal the names of these leaders.
Malik, who was appointed as Bihar governor by the BJP-led NDA government last year, had on May 18 praised Rajiv Gandhi at a function in Patna.
In an apparent reference to the Bofors scandal, he had said Gandhi was a "good and honest" person, but was surrounded by some wrong people and had got into trouble trying to save them. Malik had not named anyone.
Reacting to the comments that had triggered a fresh controversy, BJP leader and advocate Ajay Agrawal said if Malik knew anything about the scam he should give out all information.
"Afterall, this was the biggest scam related to the security of the country. So if he knows, he should not hide and immediately reveal it to the people of the country.
"CBI has already moved before the trial court to re-investigate the entire case and if the Governor reveals the names which he claims that he knows, CBI will find it easy to corroborate with the evidence available with it," Agrawal, who had contested the 2014 Lok Sabha election from Rae Bareli against then Congress president Sonia Gandhi, said in a statement.
The CBI had in February moved a district court here seeking re-investigation of the scam. However, the matter has not been able to make progress as the original case records are in the custody of the Supreme Court.
The trial court decided to take up the matter after the summer vacation after noting the submission of Agrawal that he would file an application in the apex court for transfer of the original case records to Tis Hazari court.