By IANS,
New Delhi : Asserting that truth had come out repeatedly and courts had given their verdicts, the Congress Thursday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of levelling irresponsible allegations in the Bofors payoff controversy on the basis of remarks of a retired Swedish police chief.
Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi told reporters that repeated attempts had been made to link former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s name with the controversy on the basis of false allegations.
The BJP was gunning for the government over the role of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi following former Swedish police official Sten Lindstrom’s remarks, but the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government had not appealed against court verdict in the Bofors case in 2004, the party said.
Lindstrom, the original whistleblower of the bribery scam, had said in an interview that Rajiv Gandhi “watched the massive cover-up” and the guilty, Quattrocchi, got away.
Dwivedi said parliament was being involved in remarks of a retired police official of a foreign country.
“How many times has the truth come out… We have our judicial system, our own investigative agencies,” he said, adding that judicial pronouncements had been made on the Bofors controversy and the issue had been settled.
Dwivedi said people had given their verdict over the past 25 years following the Bofors controversy and the BJP should accept both the judicial verdicts and verdict of the people.
He said BJP leader Arun Jaitley was law minister in 2004 when the NDA government did not appeal against a Delhi High Court order in Bofors case. Jaitley is now leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabaha.
“Why was he (Quattrocchi) not caught in Malaysia. They have no answer.”
“The leader of opposition (Jaitley) was the law minister (in NDA government). Today he is giving the judgement,” Dwivedi said.
Jaitley had raised the Bofors issue in the Rajya Sabha Thursday morning and said the government had been unable to nail the culprits despite having conclusive evidences.
The house witnessed repeated adjournments in the pre-lunch session on the issue.