Congress party spokesman Jairam Ramesh dubbed Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “Jagadguru” of “politics of black mail” who is "masterminding a conspiracy", to implicate its leadership in the AgustaWestland case.
Regarding the ongoing debate on the VVIP chopper scam in the Lok Sabha, Jairam alleged that, the “sole objective” of Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah, was to “fix” Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the scam.
He further alleged that, Modi had a "brushoff meeting" with his Italian counterpart in New York last year, after which India "diluted" its position on the Italian Marines issue and invited AgustaWestland to participate in ‘Make In India’ programme.
"Subramanian Swamy represents the politics of blackmail, insinuation and inneundo whose Jagadguru is Narendra Modi," he claimed.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi is expected to lead the party's offensive in the House.
Apart from Rahul Gandhi, there is no clarity on who would pitch the Congress case during the debate. However, chief whip Jyotiraditya Scindia and senior leader M Veerappa Moily names are heard big.
“The Narendra Modi-Amit Shah approach of governance is fake investigation ....They have no interest in bringing closure to any case,” he said making a strong pitch for a Supreme Court-monitored inquiry into the chopper deal.
To ensure a "doctored" inquiry does not take place, Ramesh said that, Congress along with BSP, JD-U and Left parties, have demanded a planned probe.
Alleging that the Modi dispensation wanted a "doctored inquiry to tell the world that Congress leadership is the beneficiary", Ramesh alleged that, "There is no doubt that the Prime Minister himself is masterminding the conspiracy to implicate the Congress leadership..."
"You cannot run the government by practising politics of vendetta, revenge and intimidation... Governments do not function by looking backwards but forward," he said.
Taking a dig at the Prime Minister, he said "acche din" (good days) for him would come only when the Congress leadership has been "fixed".
Not stopping there, Jairam Ramesh even concentrated on Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, saying that, his reply in the Rajya Sabha to the debate on AgustaWestland issue was one of the "worst examples in parliamentary history" as instead of responding to issues raised by the opposition, he read out a "catalogue of accusations and charges".
"The cat is out by the manner in which the Prime Minister last night tweeted and hailed Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's reply in Rajya Sabha on the issue. It shows not only his mindset but his strategy too," Mr Ramesh said.
Ramesh questioned that, why BJP invited AgustaWestland to participate in “Make in India”, when the party is against the company.
Referring to the issue of an alleged meeting between the Prime Ministers of India and Italy, Ramesh said while the External Affairs Ministry has denied that, "there was any formal meeting, it has not refuted any brush off meeting, brush on meeting, informal meeting, tea meeting, coffee meeting."
Last week, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley denied the news about meeting between the two Prime Ministers was "false and untrue in entirety. No such meeting at all has been held."
By Phani Ch
