Rahul should clarify his stand on Michel's revelations:Kaushik

The BJP in Chhattisgarh Monday sought "clarification" of Congress president Rahul Gandhi on "revelations" made by Christian Michel, an alleged middleman in the AgustaWestland case.

State unit BJP president Dharamlal Kaushik has accused Congress of "committing corruption" in every defence deal during its tenure at the Centre.

Addressing a press conference here, Kaushik said Congress is afraid of getting "exposed" since the Modi government successfully extradited Michel to India.

"The allegations levelled against Congress in the AgustaWestland chopper scam are being substantiated by the revelations being made by Michel. Michel took names of 'Mrs Gandhi' and 'R' (as per Enforcement Directorate). There is no need to tell who 'Mrs Gandhi' and 'R' are," he said.

Those who call the "chowkidar" (as Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses himself) a thief are now being proved to be the real thieves, he said.

"Congress' involvement in every kind of defence scam in the country in known to everyone, and it is not a new thing. Be it the Bofors or Agusta, in every case Congress has been facing serious charges of receiving kickbacks," he said.

I ask Rahul Gandhi to clarify his stand on Michel's reference to 'Mrs Gandhi' and 'R', he said.

"Bribe to the tune of multi-crore rupees was unearthed in the VVIP chopper deal. The Italian court also believed that politicians and bureaucrats in India were given a bribe of Rs 15 million dollars to push the deal.

"The court had pointed out that UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi had played a key role in the deal," he claimed.

In the context of Rafale aircraft deal (of the BJP government), Rahul Gandhi had been favouring HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) while the same public sector company was neglected in the VVIP helicopter deal, Kaushik said.

He said, "Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have well-maintained the tradition of committing corruption by Congress in defence deals and carried out an institutional scam in the Agusta deal through middlemen".