BJP targets PM,asks if he will apologise to the nation

Hoping to revive the Bofors controversy to further corner the Congress,the BJP on Tuesday dragged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh into its line of attack.

Hoping to revive the Bofors controversy to further corner the Congress,the BJP on Tuesday dragged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh into its line of attack,asking him if he would apologise for exonerating Ottavio Quattrocchi.

Asserting that Singh had a given a clean chit to the Italian businessman,the party asked if he would tender an apology in the light of the Income-Tax Appellate Tribunals order that said kickbacks were paid to Win Chadha and Quattrocchi,who is very close to the Gandhi family.

The BJP raked up a past statement of the Prime Minister that the Quattrocchi case was an embarrassment to the government and that it was not a good reflection on the Indian system.

Story continues below this ad

The BJP said the PM had given a clean chit to Quattrocchi when the CBIs closure report was pending in court.

The Tribunal,in an elaborate finding based on evidence,has ruled that Quattrocchi was a middleman and he received kickbacks. The PM had recently observed that Ceasers wife must be above suspicion. Now that his statement exonerating Quattrocchi have been found to be false by a competent tribunal,would the PM stand up to the benchmark he has set for himself and apologise to the nation? BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

He said the BJP was only trying to judge the Prime Minister according to the benchmark that he had set for himself.

The BJP spokesperson said successive Congress regimes and governments supported by it had tried to save Quattrocchi because of his close links and proximity with the Gandhi family.

Story continues below this ad

Prasad referred to Quattrocchi fleeing from India in 1993 and de-freezing of his UK bank account in 2006.

A big powerful hidden hand had always been available to bail him (Quattrocchi) out. The entire machinery of the government and the Congress has always tried to help him because of his proximity to the Gandhi family. The PM and Sonia Gandhi owe an explanation to the nation as to why this was allowed to happen, Prasad said.

Referring to the Prime Ministers statement about Quattrocchi,he said the government first messed up the entire investigation and then said no case was made out against him.

Defending the BJPs decision to reopen the criminal investigation against Quattrocchi,he said there was no judicial order prohibiting a probe against the businessman.