Idle Agusta copter turns useful for Congress

Lying idle in a state hangar in Jaipur, an AgustaWestland helicopter has become quite useful for an embattled Congress.

The A109E power helicopter, bought for Rs 20 crore by the BJP government in 2005, was grounded after it crashed with then chief minister, Ashok Gehlot, on board in November 2011; the cap of its rotating blade flew off. Since then, the helicopter has been parked in a hangar while the Rajasthan government’s efforts to sell it for a reduced price of Rs 12.4 crore have been unsuccessful so far.

But what actually gives the Congress ammunition to hit back at the BJP is a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in 2009. The CAG had detected several irregularities and procedural lapses in the deal that it said caused the exchequer a loss of at least Rs 1.14 crore. It also pulled up the government for training an aircraft maintenance engineer abroad and then not appointing him, giving the maintenance contract to an Agusta service centre instead.

The Congress has questioned Ms Vasundhara Raje’s role in purchasing the twin-engine turbo shaft helicopter, meant for use by “VIPs, high dignitaries and senior officials”. The Congress points out that it was Ms Vasundhara Raje who had bought the helicopter when she was CM in 2004. “It can’t fly in the desert. It couldn’t weather a desert storm. Did the BJP government buy it to park it in a hangar,” state Congress spokesperson Archana Sharma said.

PCC chief Sachin Pilot said the Congress was not alleging anything and that it was the CAG which had found irregularities in the helicopter deal by the Raje government in her previous tenure. But he wondered why Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not taking any action against Ms Raje.

Meanwhile, state BJP president Ashok Parnami dismissed charges of any wrongdoing and instead said if the Congress government had the helicopter repaired in time it would not have been rendered useless. “Whenever Congress finds itself in trouble it starts throwing mud at BJP leaders. If only Pilot had read the Public Accounts Committee’s report, he wouldn’t have levelled this baseless allegation,” he said.

However, the spotlight on AgustaWestland creates a fresh headache for Ms Raje while once again giving the Congress something to blunt the BJP’s attack.