‘Govt will do what lawfully required’

The government, while rejecting charges that it was not proactive in probing allegations of kickbacks in the AgustaWestland VVIP copter deal, has affirmed that it will act as per the law and not to please the Opposition. External affairs minister Salman Khurshid reiterated that India is in touch with the Italian government about this case. Speaking about the on-going probe into the deal, Mr Khurshid said, “Well, if someone is probing it you let them probe it. Should you have your own probe when someone else is probing which is probably a better place to probe because that is where the production takes place and that is where the offices are.” The minister also affirmed that the government will assist the CBI either directly or through courts in this case. “The lawful position and lawful action to be taken will be taken,” he said. As for the Opposition’s allegations that it is “Bofors-Part II”, Mr Khurshid challenged it, asking it to provide him “the final conclusions of the Bofors case and then I would say you are right”. Asked whether he suggests that India will not pro-actively probe the case, Mr Khurshid said there was nothing called pro-active. “There is such a thing as lawful. Whatever has to be done by law should be done and I don’t think that we should do anything that is done to please the Opposition or because somebody puts pressure on us. What is lawfully required and what is lawfully justified is what will be done,” he said.

*** NDA will have all UPA scams probed: Rajnath Rabindra Nath Choudhury Raipur, Feb. 13

BJP president Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said the NDA, if voted to power at the Centre in the next general elections, will order comprehensive investigations into all major scams surfaced during the tenure of Manmohan Singh government. “The Congress-led UPA regime has broken all records of corruption. A major scam surfaces every other day during the UPA rule. A couple of days ago, the CBI public prosecutor was removed for compromising with the 2G spectrum case. Now, the Italian agency has brought to light corruption in the deal by a firm in their country with India to supply VVIP helicopters,” the BJP chief said while addressing a media conference here.