PM’s silence eloquent, Sonia’s gives answers, says BJP

“The Indian tax payer has been robbed to enrich an Italian fugitive,” Jaitley said. “Is it not a fact that Quattrocchi was a close social friend of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi?” he asked.

“Is it not a fact that the ruling Congress party has always argued that a vindication of Quattrocchi will be a vindication of Sonia Gandhi and her late husband? Is it not a fact that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is the Cabinet minister of the Personnel department which sanctioned the Additional Solicitor General’s visit to England and prevented the CBI investigator from accompanying him?” Jaitley asked to buttress his argument that both Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh were “responsible” for the clean chit to Quattrocchi.

On the UK court ordering defreezing of Quattrocchi’s accounts, Jaitley said “our worst fears have come true… this has happened due to the collusion of the political executive of India with Quattrocchi and the unauthorized intervention of Law minister H R Bhardwaj, the Minister of Personnel and Training and the Additional Solicitor General in the independent functioning of the Central Bureau of Investigation”.

On the Supreme Court declining to issue notices to Bhardwaj and B Dutta, Jaitley said that the “judicial process is on one hand” and “morally and ethically, my learned Bhardwaj cannot have a happy face”. He demanded the dismissal of Bhardwaj, holding him “guilty of intervening” in the independent investigation of the CBI.

“The silence of the Prime Minister and the PMO is eloquent. The silence of the UPA chairperson gives the answers, loud and clear. If no answers are being given, no answers to these questions could have been given. The conspiracy of silence does not absolve the UPA chairperson and the Prime Minister, if at all it inculpates them,” Jaitley said.

He said their silence only showed “arrogance of power”. “Will the Government, equipped with the arrogance of power, brazen out this scam as merely a crisis in the passing?”.

He also questioned the stand of the Left on whose support the Government survives. “The Left pontificates but does nothing. Will the principal Left parties merely continue to pontificate without a willingness to strike? These are not merely political issues. They raise serious moral issues”, he said.

Object to ASG’s London trip: Karat

CPI(M) says it wants to know how a decision was taken to defreeze Quattrocchi’ accounts that were crucial to the Bofors probe. “We object to this person (Addl Solicitor General) going to London for defreezing the accounts,” said CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat. He said his party had not taken a stand on Bhardwaj’s position. “I had spoken to the government and expected explanation on the defreezing,” he added.

Bofors issue gets murkier, says CPI

CPI’s D Raja says they are waiting for the Prime Minister’s explanation: “It is for the PM, as head of the government, to explain the situation. The latest developments have made the Bofors issue murkier, more controversial”

‘Congress not involved at all’

Congress continues to wash hands of Bofors case. “We have nothing whatsoever to do”, said Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi. “For 20 years an attempt was being made to link the party to Bofors. Every time that attempt has been rebuffed by the courts explicitly,” he said.