Congress shifts Agusta Chopper heat to Chhattisgarh

The political party is levelling allegation against the BJP government over the purchase of chopper by the same Italian company in the state

Under scanner over the alleged AgustaWestland chopper scam, Congress today shifted the heat to Chhattisgarh by levelling shady deal allegation against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government over the purchase of chopper by the same Italian company in the state.

The Chhattisgarh government had procured Agusta A-109 power from the AgustaWestland in 2007 for $6.5 million. The deal had armed the Congress to fire fresh salvo on the BJP even as the latter had been targeting the Congress President Sonia Gandhi and the party over the alleged bribery in finalising the chopper purchase deal from AgustaWestland during the regime of previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.
 

“The BJP government in Chhattisgarh ignored all the norms to favour AgustaWestland for purchasing chopper in 2007,” Chhattisgarh Congress President Bhupesh Baghel said.

Initially, the state government did not invite global tender for the purchase stating that chopper was a specific product, he said, adding that later the tender was floated for a specific model of chopper in which only AgustaWestland was qualifying.

The deal was finalised at $6.1 million. The state government in April 2007 asked the company to curtail the price to $5.59 million in which it had supplied the same model chopper to Jharkhand. The company however refused and the proposal was cancelled. The government later floated global tender and finalised the deal with the same company later for $6.5 million that caused heavy loss to the state exchequer. “The above points had been underlined in the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report in 2011,” Baghel added.

The CAG report said the reply from the aviation department (that was headed by Chief Minister Raman Singh) was not convincing as the government first refused to invite global tender and later floated tender for a specific model that did not come under the orbit of promoting competition.

“The BJP is leveling charges against our president (Sonia Gandhi) without any proof and here (in Chhattisgarh) we are providing all the evidences of corruption committed in the chopper deal,” Baghel said. The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah must take necessary action, he demanded.

The state government spokesperson did not respond to the query sent by Business Standard for its comment.