Kolkata: On a day when the VVIP chopper scam sparked tensions in parliament, BJP chief Amit Shah on Wednesday questioned the silence of West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee on the issue.
“Mamata Banerjee appears to be fighting against the Congress and the Communists, but when it comes to the Westland scam, she doesn’t utter a single word against (Congress president) Sonia Gandhi,” Shah said at a poll rally here.
The BJP chief was referring to the AgustaWestland chopper deal against which the Comptroller and Auditor General had made adverse comments, saying it was a waste of resources.
Addressing successive rallies in Diamond Harbour in South 24 Parganas and Bhowanipore in the city, Shah also hit out at the Trinamool over several issues, including corruption, and said the India-Bangladesh border will be “sealed off” to prevent infiltration.
The BJP has upped the ante against Gandhi, whose name figures in a judgment by an Italian court which sent Finmeccanica’s former CEO Giuseppe Orsi and AgustaWestland ex-head Bruno Spagnolini to jail for false accounting and corruption in the sale of 12 VVIP choppers to India.
The court ruling refers to former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi, her secretary Ahmad Patel and also former Indian Air Force chief S.P. Tyagi.
—IANS