Bofors row: Opposition wants judicial inquiry

Though he did not name Rajiv Gandhi,Singh said the Congress would be feeling the absence of the late prime minister and a promising individual in the polity was lost.

Picking on revelations made by former Swedish police chief Sten Lindstrom on the controversial Bofors gun deal,the BJP on Thursday attempted to put the Congress on the mat over the 25-year-old case,demanding a fresh probe by a judicial commission and accusing the government of a cover-up.

Forcing adjournment of both Houses of Parliament in the face of strong protests from Congress benches,an aggressive Opposition claimed that damning remarks made by Lindstrom in an interview showed that political payouts were made at that time to clear the gun deal,which needed to be investigated once and for all. Separately,BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad brought Congress president Sonia Gandhi directly in the line of fire,demanding that she should explain why her party is opposed to an impartial probe into the role of Ottavio Quattrochi.

In the Lok Sabha,BJP leader Jaswant Singh demanded a judicial commission to look into the matter,saying it was a saga of continuing corruption and a thorn which needed to be removed else the poison would spread. Singh,however,admitted to failure of the NDA government,in which he was external affairs minister,to get accused Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi extradited to India.

Though he did not name Rajiv Gandhi,Singh said the Congress would be feeling the absence of the late prime minister and a promising individual in the polity was lost.

With both Sonia and Rahul Gandhi present in the House,Congress members vied with each other to defend the Gandhi family,leading to clashes with the BJP members. Singh asked why the investigating teams which went to Sweden did not meet their Swedish counterparts probing the matter.

He asked how Quattrocchi was permitted through government connivance to escape from Delhi.

CPM leader Basudeb Acharia demanded reopening of the case,institution of an independent inquiry,and extradition of Quattrocchi.

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In the Rajya Sabha,Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley tore into the Congress,charging that repeated efforts were made to make sure that the process of investigation is stalled,and this case was a textbook illustration of a fraud as to how to kill the pursuit to get the truth. Jaitley found support in CPMs Sitaram Yechury and SPs Mohan Singh. The House plunged into chaos as soon as Congresss Mani Shankar Aiyar countered Jaitelys charge by making personal remarks about him.

Aiyar said notwithstanding the filing of an FIR in 1990 and its pursuit by Additional Solicitor General of that time whose fate has now raised to the position of the Leader of Opposition no progress was made between December 1989 and November 1990 apart from producing Letters Rogatory which were a disgrace to the fair name of India,documents in which inundations were made in pencil and pieces of paper were stuck on to the document.

This reference to Jaitley angered the BJP members who did not allow Aiyar to speak further,after which the House was adjourned till 2 pm.

Let there be a judicial commission on Tehelka as well,says Congress

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Hitting back at the BJP for raking up the Bofors issue and demanding a judicial commission on it,the Congress sought to turn the table on the opposition party saying that the same could be resorted to in case of Tehelka expose as well. They are talking about some judicial commission. The commission will be on everything even on Tehelka, Congress general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi said on Thursday.