AgustaWestland deal: Sonia rejects allegations against her

New Delhi: Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday rejected baseless allegations linking her and party leaders to bribes in the AgustaWestland chopper deal, calling them an attempt at character assassination.

Asserting that she is not afraid of being cornered on the issue, she asked the government what it has been doing in power for the last two years and demanded that the ongoing inquiry be completed impartially.

"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," Gandhi told reporters in Parliament complex as BJP sought to target her on the deal.

"Where are the proofs. They are lying. They are part of a strategy of character assassination which we have known these people indulge in," Gandhi said.

Referring to the Modi government, Gandhi asked what has it been doing over the last two years. Gandhi's political secretary and senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel also rubbished the allegations against him and the party as absolutely baseless.

"This government, when they are saying all these things outside and inside the Parliament, why can't they investigate," Patel said.

The comments of Sonia Gandhi and Patel come in the backdrop of BJP move to target the Congress President and other party leaders on the issue of bribes in the AugustaWestland chopper deal during the UPA regime in a bid to corner the main opposition party which has been paralysing Rajya Sabha on the Uttarakhand affair.
Source: PTI