AgustaWestland case: No defence deal complete without kickbacks during Congress tenure, says Ravi Shankar Prasad

Addressing the media, Prasad said the Congress should clarify their stand on the names of the leaders in AgustaWestland VVIP choppers scam

Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad hit out at the Congress on Tuesday and said no defence deals were completed during their tenure without kickbacks.

“There used to be a paint company Jenson and Nicholson that used a tag line, whenever you think of colour think of us... in the Congress’ case it is modified to whenever you think of kickback in a military deal or a defence think of some Congress leaders,” the minister said.

“No defence deal without loot, no defence deal without a kickback and no defence deal without some Congress leaders benefitting has been the go-to policy of Congress leaders,” he said addressing the media.

The minister’s comments came in the wake of a news report that Rajiv Saxena, a chartered accountant and key accused in the Rs3,000-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case has allegedly made references to Bakul Nath and Ratul Puri, the son and nephew of former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath, and Congress leaders Salman Khurshid and Ahmed Patel during his interrogation.

Addressing the media, Prasad said the Congress should clarify their stand on the names of the leaders in AgustaWestland VVIP choppers scam.

“The BJP demands that the Congress should not maintain silence. Congress president, its senior leaders and the former president of the party should tell the country what they have to say about the fact that so many leaders have been named in the statement,” the minister said.