Constantly seeking ammunition against Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has zeroed in on the AgustaWestland helicopter bribery case to mount a fresh offensive against the opposition party’s First Family and keep the focus on the issue of corruption.
The latest revelations by an Italian court over alleged corruption in the deal to purchase 12 helicopters for VVIP use from the Italian firm have come in handy for the BJP, which found itself on the backfoot over its decision to impose President’s rule in Congress-ruled Uttarakhand. An aggressive Congress disrupted proceedings in the Rajya Sabha on this issue on the opening day on Monday with the promise that it would not allow Parliament to function till the Uttarakhand matter was settled.
But two days later, the narrative has changed. Uttarakhand has been pushed to the background. Fresh reports from Italy stating that documents relating to the helicopter deal mention Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh now dominate the show in Parliament. Not only has the helicopter bribery case deflected attention from Uttarakhand, it has also provided much-needed ammunition to the BJP to target the Congress president.
The war of words between the Congress and the BJP began on Tuesday but it escalated into a full-scale confrontation in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday when newly-nominated BJP leader Subramanian Swamy lost no time in referring to Sonia Gandhi when he got up to raise the AgustaWestland helicopter bribery case. Congress members were quick to react, leading to a verbal duel and an early adjournment. Although the reference to Sonia Gandhi was subsequently expunged, the Congress has declared that its protests will continue.
Series of attacks
But the BJP is not worried. Party strategists believe that the AgustaWestland bribery case has put them in the driving seat once again vis-à-vis the Congress, which is always vulnerable on the issue of corruption. Ever since it came to power two years ago, it has been the effort of the ruling party to focus its attack on Sonia Gandhi. The enquiries launched into the land deals of her son-in-law Robert Vadra was the first step in discrediting the Gandhi family. The ruling alliance has not been able to nail down Vadra but it has succeeded in creating an impression that Sonia Gandhi and her family are involved in corruption scandals.
The National Herald case was next. The matter was pursued doggedly by Subramaniam Swamy who ensured that Sonia and Rahul Gandhi were summoned for a personal appearance in a Patiala House court in connection with the charge that they misappropriated money belonging to the defunct National Herald newspaper. While the matter is not likely to be disposed off by the courts in a hurry, the BJP has succeeded in pushing the Congress leadership on the defensive as it has been forced to give lengthy explanations to counter its charges.
The “attack Sonia “ strategy was also in place when the Ishrat Jahan case resurfaced recently after claims in Feburary that former home minister P Chidambaram had changed the affidavits in this case relating to the Mumbai college student killed in an encounter by the Gujarat police in 2004. The police alleged that Jahan was part of a terror squad headed to assassinate Narendra Modi, who was the state's chief minister at the time. The BJP fielded its commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman to blame the Congress president and Rahul Gandhi for persuading the previous United Progressive Alliance government to alter the affidavit to remove references to Jahan's alleged association with the Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group. Launching a blistering attack against the Congress leadership, Sitharaman charged that the Congress president and Rahul Gandhi conspired with Chidambaram.
“Sonia Gandhi worked actively on this theory," Sitharaman claimed. "That is why she went to town saying an encounter has happened as though there was no intelligence information stating that there was a terror plot. They wanted to quietly watch the terror plot bloom to eliminate a political opponent ... a very serious fallout.”
While all these issues have helped build a case against Sonia Gandhi, the BJP is hoping that the AgustaWestland bribery case will prove to be the Congress president’s undoing, similar to the Bofors case. The BJP is working on the premise that the Congress will unravel if the Gandhi family is sufficiently weakened. Although the BJP leadership has decided to keep up the attack against Sonia Gandhi, its own party members are not convinced that they will be able to sustain this campaign.
“Making allegations is one thing but to take the case to its logical conclusion is another matter,” remarked a senior BJP leader from Madhya Pradesh. “We should also be able to prove these charges.”
Launching a counter-offensive
On its part, the Congress has decided to launch a counter-offensive against the Modi government. While Congress members kept up its noisy protests in Parliament, Sonia Gandhi was equally aggressive. “I have done nothing wrong. The government is there for two years, an inquiry is there. Why don’t they complete it as early as possible...and impartially?” she countered.
At the same time, the party fielded former defence minister AK Antony to take on the BJP.
Turning the tables on the ruling alliance, an unusually combative Antony said the UPA government had acted swiftly to order an enquiry when allegations of kickbacks came to light but it also moved the Italian courts and recovered all the money it had paid for the helicopters. On the other hand, the Modi government had removed the Italian firm from the blacklist and invited it to participate in the Prime Minister’s Make in India programme and bid to supply helicopters to the Indian Navy.
The BJP denied the Congress charges, stating that it was pursuing the cases seriously and that it will make sure that the names of the bribe takers are revealed.
