Sonia must say who gained from VVIP chopper scam: Shah

BJP president Amit Shah on Thursday hit out at Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and asked her to clarify who were the beneficiaries of the VVIP chopper scam.

"It has been established by an Italian court that kickbacks were given. Rather than saying she (Sonia) is not afraid of anyone, she should clarify who received the kickbacks," Shah told reporters.

"I just want to ask who was in the power then? It was UPA and they are responsible. They should bring out the truth before the nation."

"When the National Herald (case) took place, then you say that 'we are not afraid of anybody', when the VVIP chopper scam takes place, then you say that 'we are not afraid of anybody'," he said.

"She might not be afraid of anyone but we the leaders of the BJP are afraid of the Constitution, democracy and public modesty," Shah added.

He said the Congress was a unique party whose corruption deals were coming out even two years after it was ousted from power.

"When the Congress was in power, its corruption deals were coming out every day. This is still going on even after two years of losing power."

Shah's remarks came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting with senior ministers over the scam.

The meeting was attended by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu and his junior Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in parliament shortly before both houses met for the day.

Sources told IANS that the prime minister discussed the government's further strategy over the issue in parliament and outside.

He asked the members to corner the Congress aggressively over the scam.

Naidu, who also attended the meeting, said the government was pursuing the case with all seriousness.

"Why is the Congress accusing the ruling dispensation of the deal which was not even signed in its tenure?" he told reporters outside parliament.

A combative Congress on Wednesday dismissed the bribery charges in the chopper scam.

The party, in turn, accused the Modi government of trying to help the Italian firm which had been blacklisted by the UPA government.

A Milan court sent Finmeccanica's former CEO Giuseppe Orsi and AgustaWestland ex-head Bruno Spagnolini to jail for false accounting and corruption in the sale of 12 VVIP choppers to India.

The court ruling refers to Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi, her secretary Ahmad Patel and also former Indian Air Force chief S.P. Tyagi.

--IANS

bns/pm/vt