BJP slams Cong over Sanjay Bhandari’s claims in defence deal

New Delhi : The BJP on Tuesday led a frontal attack on Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi’s husband Robert Vadra, citing a law suit filed in London by Sanjay Bhandari, Vadra’s close aide, and demanded answer on the corruption charges.

Addressing the media at the Delhi BJP headquarters, the party’s national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said that Sanjay Bhandari has filed a suit in London against Thales Group of Companies demanding he be paid his full ‘consultancy fee’ for his role as an intermediary in winning the company a contract to upgrade aircraft.

Attacking Robert Vadra and the Congress high command, Bhatia said that according to the agreement between Sanjay Bhandari and Thales Company, Bhandari was to receive Rs 170 crore as bribe, out of which only Rs 75 crore was paid during the tenure of the UPA government.

Targeting Priyanka Gandhi, Bhatia said that she is in public life, and is campaigning in Uttar Pradesh, so she should come forward and give answers to the questions.

Alleging that every corruption case is linked to the Congress, the BJP national spokesperson also made a political attack on Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

Criticising the Congress, Bhatia said when army personnel were asking for bulletproof jackets, why were they buying VVIP choppers? When the Congress party comes to power, it is their priority to fill their own coffers, he said.

Describing ‘commission’ as the culture of the Congress, he said that such a system was in place in the Congress that it used to take ‘cut’ in defence deals as well. Corruption was rampant in the Congress government, he claimed.

Bhatia also said that extradition proceedings were initiated against Sanjay Bhandari only after the BJP government came to power at the Centre, and the final hearing is to be held in February.