New Delhi:
The BJP is planning media interactions across the country to corner the Congress over the AgustaWestland deal. All BJP Chief Ministers have been instructed to hold press conferences in their states, news agency ANI reported on Monday. BJP’s fresh attack on the Congress comes after Christian Michel, the alleged middleman in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam, reportedly named ‘Mrs Gandhi’ during the interrogation.
On Saturday, the Enforcement Directorate produced him in the Patiala House Court and told court about Michel’s statement. At present, Michel is in the ED custody for a week.
However, the Congress countered the charges and said that there is pressure on Michel to name a particular family. Addressing the media, Congress leader RPN Singh asked "why is the chowkidaar trying to pressurise the government agencies to name a family? BJP scriptwriters are working overtime." Michel was extradited to India from Dubai on December 4. At that time, Congress had alleged that facing "imminent defeat" in state polls, Prime Minister Modi and the BJP government were seeking to "weave a web of lies" and construct a "mesh of deception to hoodwink" the people of India in the chopper case.
Michel was subjected to intense questioning after he reached India and slept barely for two hours. The 57-year old had an anxiety attack upon reaching the CBI headquarters in wee hours and doctors were called to attend to him. After giving him treatment, he was put to an intense grilling about money trail and identification of documents in the multi-crore rupee deal. He was allowed to sleep for two hours between 4 am and 6 am Wednesday before being provided with breakfast.
Meanwhile, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar slammed the Congress over Christian Michel's revelations. "Christian Michel spoke about 'son of Italian lady'. Revelations by the ED show that there is a 'son of Italian lady', 'big man' and 'R' involved. It points towards a family." He added, "The Congress government was a government of corruption that compromised with national security."
