For second day in a row, BJP attacks Cong over Agusta scam

New Delhi: A day after Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad launched a scathing attack on the Congress over the alleged involvement of some of its leaders in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam, senior BJP leader Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore continued the offensive on Wednesday.

"Whenever it comes to scams in defence deals, the name of the Congress comes up. Be it the Jeep scam, Tatra Truck scam, Bofors scam or the AgustaWestland scam, all happened under the Congress rule," Rathore said while addressing the media here.

"What is the reason that Congress always gets involved in scams while making defence agreements? Why Rahul Gandhi is still silent," the former Olympian shooter-turned-politician asked.

On February 8, 2010, an agreement was reached between the then UPA government at the Centre and AgustaWestland, an Italian helicopter design and manufacturing company, for the purchase of 12 helicopters at a cost of around 600 million euros, the BJP leader said.

The shoppers were to be delivered in July 2013. But in February 2012, an investigation began in Italy over the fact that its parent company was operating in an unethical manner, he said..

"A lot of information came from alleged middleman Christian Mitchell's notes in 2014. The names of many senior Congress leaders, including Ahmed Patel, have been mentioned for their alleged involvement in the scam," Rathore said in the press conference.