Rajya Sabha will witness a pitched battle between the Centre and the Congress over the alleged AgustaWestland scam. According to sources, the overpricing of VVIP choppers is going to be the key argument of the Central government as it tries to corner the Congress leadership.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar is set to raise the issue of how the price of helicopter was raised to around $50 million. Parrikar is also likely to question how special relaxation was allegedly given to AgustaWestland for Flight Evaluation Trials.
Congress is likely to depute former defence minister AK Antony to counter the allegations by pointing out that he did indeed object to the pricing and relaxation of norms. Antony is likely to argue that the go ahead was given after the Indian Air Force gave assurances.
The Congress has also issued a whip to all its MPs to be present during the discussion in Parliament on the alleged scam.
Parrikar had said that he will place all facts along with the detailed chronology about the controversial AgustaWestland chopper deal before Parliament on Wednesday.
Parrikar had recently challenged the Congress to show the order by the UPA government confirming the blacklisting of the company.
Comments
0 comment