Left joins NDA in LS to attack government on Bofors issue

New Delhi, Aug 20 (UNI) The Left today again joined the BJP-led NDA in the Lok Sabha, this time to charge the government with helping Ottavio Quattrocchi, the main accused in the Bofors payoff case, to escape from Argentina to Italy, his home country.

After raising the issue during zero hour, the NDA staged a walkout to protest against the government's inaction in getting Quattrocchi arrested once again and making him face trial in India.

This is the second time the Left and the NDA were on the same side in the House to attack the government during the ongoing monsoon session, the Indo-US nuclear deal being the other issue.

Mr Suresh Kurup (CPI-M) said the ''government is hand in glove with Quattrocchi'' who had cheated India to make crores of rupees.

The government ''deliberately'' did not file an appeal in the Supreme Court of Argentina to prevent the accused from fleeing to Italy. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should make a statement, giving clarifications on the issue.

Mr Gurudas Dasgupta (CPI) said the government should come clean in the case against Quattrocchi. Mr Varkala Radhakrishnan (CPI-M) and Mr Mohan Singh (SP) were also critical of the government.

Raising the issue, Prof Vijay Kumar Malhotra, BJP's Deputy Leader in the House, held the government responsible for the escape of the main accused, who had looted and plundered the country to the extent of hundereds of crores of rupees. The UPA government was giving importance to one member of the family, he said and sought a statement by the Prime Minister and Law Minister H R Bhardwaj.

Mr Bhartruhari Mahtab (BJD) said India had interfered in the Quattrocchi case and asked the Argentinian government to withdraw the petition in the Supreme Court. The government had four days for appealing against Quattrocchi, but the CBI failed to act.

Mr Braja Kishore Tripathy (BJD) said it was unfortunate that the government and the CBI were not serious on the issue which had agitated the nation for 22 years. The government had asked the CBI to weaken the case against the prime accused, he claimed.

Mr Prabhunath Singh (JD-U) said the case against Quattrocchi was strong and the trial should be held in India after getting the accused arrested.

UNI