Let them take my name, I have nothing to hide: Sonia reacts to chopper scam

NEW DELHI: Breaking her long silence on the issue, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi said on Wednesday that she isn't afraid and has nothing to hide in the AgustaWestland chopper scam. "We have nothing to hide. Let them take my name, I am not afraid," Sonia said. "I am not afraid of anyone cornering me as there is no basis to that. All the accusations they are throwing at us are false," Sonia told reporters in the Parliament complex as the BJP sought to target her on the deal. Sonia Gandhi asked the Modi government what it has been doing on the issue while it has been in power for the last two years and demanded that the ongoing inquiry be completed impartially. "Where is the proof. They are lying. They are part of a strategy of character assassination which we have known these people indulge in," Sonia said. Sonia made these comments after BJP MP Subramanian Swamy named her in connection with the VVIP chopper scam, in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. Swamy had raised the issue in the House through an adjournment notice under Rule 267, his first intervention since he took oath in the House yesterday. He referred to the allegations Christian Micheal, the middleman in the scandal, made through a letter to the High Court of Italy. The Rajya Sabha chairperson got Swamy's remarks expunged from House proceedings. "The name of the member of the other house can't be taken. Since this is your first day, I am not admonishing you. But the name would be expunged," PJ Kurien said. When Swamy named Sonia, Congress members angrily stormed into the Well of the House. Members of the treasury benches too got up on their seats to counter the opposition. Fearing an ugly showdown, a couple of marshalls stepped into the Well to act as a wall between the opposition and the ruling party MPs. Before things got out of hand, Deputy Chairman P J Kurien adjourned the House for 10 minutes. Agusta's Rs 3,600 crore contract for supplying 12 VVIP choppers to the Indian Air Force was scrapped by the UPA government after charges surfaced that there had been kickbacks made to Indian agents. In January 2013, India cancelled the deal and the CBI was assigned to investigate the matter.