Subramanian Swamy, who is leading the BJP’s hunt for the Gandhis in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal scandal, has said that he has no personal vendetta against Sonia Gandhi and will prove the charges against her in court.
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In an exclusive interview with India Today TV’s Karan Thapar, Swamy said that the Congress president should be questioned over her role in the chopper deal.
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“I can have an opinion that Sonia Gandhi is guilty. She is now a suspect, a crime has been committed and I have evidence of it. The legal process will take its course and she should be questioned,” Swamy said.
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He stopped short of questioning Modi’s government’s handling of the case but said, “Somebody was trying to protect somebody. In the last two years, attempts made not to take the case forward.”
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The BJP MP reiterated that middleman Christian Michel’s letter clearly points towards Sonia Gandhi. “The letter stated that she is the driving force behind the deal,” Swamy said.
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“The fact of the matter is that it the duty of the police to question all those whom they think have some knowledge about the matter,” he added.
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Swamy pointed out that Italian court’s verdict also mentioned Sonia’s name “at least four times.”
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The former Law Minister also junked Michel’s claims that he was under pressure from the Modi government to incriminate the Gandhi family in the chopper deal.
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“He (Michel) didn’t say it to the court of law. His statement has no locus. Michel is sweating now. He is being used by the Congress,” Swamy said.
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In a letter written to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and shared exclusively with India Today, Christian Michel alleged that the Modi government tried to cut a deal with him.
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Swamy also slammed former NSA and close aide of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Brajesh Mishra, while accusing him of working for the Congress. “He was Congress’s trojan horse,” he said.
AgustaWestland was alleged to have paid Rs 375 crore as bribe to secure the Rs 3,700-crore contract to supply 12 VVIP choppers to the Indian Air Force. The contract for purchase of helicopters for the use of VVIPs was signed in 2010. The previous UPA government later scrapped the deal over charges of kickbacks.