Congress leaders staged a walkout from the Rajya Sabha after being dissatisfied with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's statement on the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal on Wednesday evening.
Emerging out of Parliament, leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said all allegations levelled against our friends are baseless.
"Two years on, they could not get a CBI inquiry finished neither they want it to finish. That is why we have demanded a Supreme Court-monitored CBI inquiry, which should be concluded in three months," he told reporters waiting outside Parliament.
"This should have been done by the government, but people who are being alleged are saying this. It means that the government doesn't want to finish the matter and wants to continue with it. Their agenda is to defame the Congress and its leadership as they had done during the Bofors, added Azad.
Challenging the BJP-led NDA Government to mark a SC-monitored CBI inquiry, Azad said, "The government should inform the House in the July-August session of Parliament that who had received how much bribe. And if they don't have any proof, they should stop defaming the Congress and apologise to the nation for their inability to nab people who had received bribes."
Toeing the same line, former defence minister and Congress leader A.K. Antony told reporters, "Ultimately, we demanded a Supreme Court-monitored CBI inquiry, but the government did not agree to it."
When asked Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said when you were the ruling party you had asked for a CBI inquiry and now when the BJP is in power you are asking for a SC-monitored CBI probe, Antony shot back because they are in power for two years, and nothing is happening, but the country wants to know the truth.
Saying that they ask for three things, Antony said: "First, take action against the giver as well as taker; second, the Italian court judgment is that there is corruption, so blacklist the company at the earliest; and third, remove the company from 'Make in India' project."
Meanwhile, Congress leader Ahmed Patel told reporters, "How we would ask a question to him when we didn't know what he was reading? Generally, ministers reply after hearing all members, but he (Parrikar) had come with written reply even before listening to the members. Even then, his reply was not satisfactory. He should have at least circulated the statement."
Alleging that the procurement process in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal was violated, Parrikar today said that the former UPA regime had created "single-vendor situation" to benefit from the same.
"Italian court has proof that there was 'malafide intent' and there was corruption in matter is brought out in extensive details in judgements of a Milan court. The country wants to know who benefitted from the deal," Parrikar asked to the Congress.
"The Italian court has said there are omissions at many stages and the deal was cancelled by the government after the CAG advice," he said in the Rajya Sabha.
"Why field evaluation trials were conducted outside India. Field trial in India was extremely important because topographical conditions here (in India) differ from that of in the U.S. and the U.K.," he added.
Parrikar further 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.
As soon as Parrikar concluded his speech, Azad said the Defence Minister's speech is full of allegations.
