The Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets the senior ministers Manohar Parrikar, Rajnath Singh and Venkaiah Naidu this morning ahead which is anticipated to be a fiery debate in the Parliament on the AgustaWestland Chooper Scam issue. The Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar will make a statement in the Rajya Sabha by 2 pm today and has said he will present complete details of the Rs. 3,600 AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal.
The Senior Congress lawmaker Ahmed Patel, will make a rare speech in the house today to clarify references to an "AP" in documents that an Italian court used to conclude last month that bribes of up to 30 million euros (226 crores) were paid in India for the Agusta deal.
The BJP has also attacked Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi demanding that he explain how Guido Haschke, a middleman in the Agusta deal served as a Director in 2009 for real estate developer Emaar-MGF.
Apart from Mr. Patel, the documents also mention by name Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and for the BJP its new lawmaker Subramanian Swamy will lead the discussion along with Bhupendra Yadav. Mr Swamy is a known Gandhi baiter, who had raised the AgustaWestland issue soon after he was sworn in as a Rajya Sabha member.
Apart from Ahmed Patel, the Congress is expected to field seasoned debaters like Abhishek Singhvi, Anand Sharma and former Defense Minister AK Antony and the Agusta deal was signed in 2010 and was cancelled in 2014, after the allegations of corruption surfaced.
