BJP will put Govt on mat on Volcker, Scorpene

Mandsaur, MP, Apr 30: Leader of the Opposition L K Advani has said the BJP will put the UPA Government on the mat on issues such as Office of Profit, Volcker, Scorpene and Quattrocchi in the Parliament session beginning May 10.

The BJP will seek an explanation from the Congress-led ruling coalition at the Centre on these various counts but will not disrupt the proceedings in Parliament, Mr Advani told UNI during the course of his 'Bharat Suraksha Yatra' against the policy of minority appeasement which had fanned terrorism and endangered national security.

The twin Yatras of Mr Advani and BJP President Rajnath Singh which had commenced from Dwarka and Puri on April 6 had covered 3/4th of the distance and will converge in New Delhi on May 10.

Before ending the third leg of his Yatra, Mr Advani levelled the charge that the Congress was being embroiled in scandals one after the other but was under the mistaken impression that it could get off the hook without having to tender an explanation.

In this context, he cited the example of Rajiv Gandhi who formed the Government with a majority of 400 MPs after the assassination of his mother and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Rajiv had sworn not to make any compromise with corruption but then the Bofors scandal came to light and took away his Government. Mr Advani said Volcker and Scorpene are bigger scams than Bofors and ''we will not let the Government get away. Bofors scam amounted to Rs 60 crores but the Scorpene deal involved kickbacks of Rs 600 crores,'' he said.

He said the Volcker report which probed the Oil-for-food scam in Iraq under the Saddam Hussein regime had named both former Minister of External Affairs Natwar Singh and the Congress Party as recipients.

The UPA Government had made Mr Natwar Singh a scapegoat but maintained silence about the role of the Congress Party, he said. Mr Advani said the entire matter should be probed by the CBI and a case of illegally getting wealth from abroad should be registered in which Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Mr Natwar Singh should be questioned.

Bitterly criticising the ruling coalition's policies on reservation, Mr Advani said the Government was defying the courts in the matter of giving reservation to Muslims on the ground of religion. There were differences among the Cabinet on the issue of giving reservation to other backward classes in elite educational institutions which showed the Government was not serious in the matter. Let the Government first make its position clear then only the BJP will be in a position to take a stand, Mr Advani said.

UNI