Fear compelled Congress to demand SC monitored probe in Agusta deal: BJP

With the Opposition demanding a Supreme Court monitored time bound CBI probe into AgustaWestland kickback case, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday said the gaining momentum of investigation has forced the Congress to make such assertions.

"I think they are afraid because now the ED and CBI investigation has gained momentum, they have got the backing of the Italian court judgement and we are very much certain that in few weeks, first action will be seen," BJP MP Kirit Somaiya told ANI.

Somaiya, who had earlier trained his guns on Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and sought to link him with AgustaWestland payoffs, asked the grand old party to wait until the probe gets over.

"Let them (investigative agencies) complete the investigation, let them take actions and subsequently if somebody wants to go to the court, they can certainly do that. But now, let us nail down the mediators and the beneficiaries," he added.

When asked to respond on the Congress staging a walk out from Parliament after making demand for SC-monitored probe into VVIP chopper deal, Somaiya said: "How can they (Congress) be satisfied with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's statement because their people will be sent behind the bars."

"I also raised the issue in the Lok Sabha about Gandhi family about how whether it is the brother-in-law or another brother-in-law have made money in the MGF-Rahul Gandhi deal, so it is for the country to know what the Gandhi family is doing," he added.

The much-awaited reply of Defence Minister Parrikar to the debate on the controversial AgustaWestland chopper deal was delivered yesterday amid ruckus in the Rajya Sabha, leading to a Congress walkout over its demand to set up a time-bound Supreme Court-monitored CBI inquiry into the alleged bribery scandal.

Alleging that the procurement process in the AgustaWestland deal was violated, Parrikar yesterday 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 judgement of the Italian court".