‘Real culprits will be tracked in chopper deal’

New Delhi

In a hard-hitting speech in the Lok Sabha, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said, “The entire corruption in the deal took place during the UPA tenure but former Air Chief S P Tyagi and Gautam Khaitan are small fry who simply washed their hands in a flowing Ganga (of corruption) and that the government will find where the river was going.”

He said while the decision on the contract was taken in 2010, Tyagi had retired in 2007 and might have got just a chiller (loose change).

Amid a walkout by Congress which was pressing for a Supreme Court-monitored probe, he said CBI is ‘very seriously’ investigating the case.  “I hope members will support the government in finding the truth. The truth may lead to many unwanted realisms. What we could not do in Bofors, we will do it in AgustaWestland,” Parrikar said while replying to a debate on the Calling Attention Motion during which he continuously targeted the Congress but deliberately refrained from naming anybody.

He said the UPA government had ‘done everything’ to help AgustaWestland to bag the Rs 3,600-crore deal for the purchase of 12 VVIP helicopters and that its action against the company following the disclosure of corruption was not pro-active but ‘forced by circumstances’.

“I am shocked; how could you accept order from a company who had not given a tender? They lost sense of proportion. They thought they will be in power for ever. The smell and sight of Euro was so attractive, so intoxicating that they forgot everything. They should take consultation from Michel on how to cover up their tracks,” he said taking a dig at the Congress. As Congress created uproar and tried to disrupted his speech, he remarked, “Why are you (Congress) concerned? I have not named anybody. You seem to know where the Ganga was going.”