New Delhi: Launching a fresh attack on the Congress, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar drew a parallel between the Bofors scam and the controversial VVIP chopper deal, claiming that the ‘hierarchical set up’ in both scandals was the same.
In an interview to NDTV, Parrikar said, "The Bofors scam was 30 years ago but the hierarchical set up is still the same.”
"The Congress knows who took the money, that is why they are scared," he further added.
Read: Enforcement Directorate widens AgustaWestland copter deal probe
BJP had repeatedly said that Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi and senior leader Ahmed Patel were the ‘architects’ of the AgustaWestland scam. The party had claimed there is enough circumstantial evidence to show that Congress bigwigs were involved in the approval of the tainted contract.
Parrikar however said that he did not take anybody's name in particular in Parliament, and therefore, the walkout of the Congress from Parliament only suggested that there was someone very powerful was involved in corruption.
"First of all you should see the situation. I did not take anybody's name and, therefore, there was no reason for the Congress Party to stage a walkout. They staged a walkout because the circumstantial evidences which I produced in Parliament only showed that someone very powerful was involved in corruption. Former defence minister AK Antony himself had accepted about corruption. Staging a walkout from Parliament was a sign of their weakness," Parrikar told ANI.
"I will not take anybody's name but I believe that all angles should be investigated and all documents need proper reading... We did a lot of things in the last two years. We are seriously investigating the case," he added.
Earlier on Saturday, BJP had attacked former Union Minister AK Antony over the AgustaWestland deal, saying since he held the Defence portfolio when the contract was awarded to the foreign firm in 2010, he has to explain who was driving the controversial deal for supplying VVIP choppers to IAF.
Read: BJP targets AK Antony over AgustaWestland deal
"Surely," Union Minister Ravishankar Prasad said when asked whether Antony is also responsible for the agreement with Finmeccanica's British subsidiary AgustaWestland for supplying 12 AW101 VVIP choppers to the Indian Air Force.
"S P Tyagi retired as air chief in 2007. The contract was given in 2010. Antony should explain who was driving this contract," the senior BJP leader told reporters.
