Rahul Gandhi dares BJP, says 'happy to be targeted'

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who is facing the heat from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the AugustaWestland VVIP chopper scam, on Tuesday said that he was happy to be targeted.

"I am always being targeted, happy to be targeted," said Gandhi said while reacting to the BJP's allegations that his one-time aide Kanishk Singh, who is the director of the Emaar-MGF group, was closely linked to the deal.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for External Affairs General (Retd.) V.K. Singh said that unbiased investigation should be done in the case.

"Those who did wrong should be punished. Let there be an unbiased investigation," he said.

Kanishk earlier today rubbished allegations of BJP leader Kirit Somaiya of him having a stake in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam as malafide and baseless.

In a statement, Kanishk said, "Mr. Somaiya's allegations about me are entirely baseless, false and with an ulterior political motive. Somaiya has been making these false allegations about me with malafide intent since February 2013."

Kanishka demanded that Somaiya should provide proof at the earliest which would facilitate a proper investigation and prosecution of the guilty.

He also said it is up to the agencies to investigate whether officials of AgustaWestland were involved with Emaar-MGF or not.

About his relation with realty company owner Rajiv Gupta and his family, Kanishka said that he had nothing to do with them.

Somaiya has alleged that Rahul Gandhi and Kanishk were connected to Guido Haschke, one of the middlemen in the AgustaWestland deal.

Haschke, Somaiya has alleged, was also involved in the 2010 CWG scam.

"Emaar-MGF was involved in the CWG scam. There too, there was Guido Haschke. This cannot be a mere coincidence," Somaiya told ANI.

After Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her former political advisor Ahmad Patel, Kanishk is under the scanner in connection with alleged corruption in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal.