New Delhi: The Bofors storm hit Parliament on Thursday with the Rajya Sabha being adjourned twice after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs insisted on a debate. The BJP had given a notice for suspension of Question Hour in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha to discuss Bofors after former Swedish police chief Sten Lindstrom revealed that he was the Deep Throat in the Bofors case and the key source that journalist Chitra Subramaniam turned to while breaking the story in the 1980s.
In the Lok Sabha the matter was raised by BJP MP and former defence minister Jaswant Singh. "I want to talk on the new and sad expose in the saga of Bofors," said Singh. Singh and CPI MP Gurudas Dasgupta have been given the permission to raise the matter during Zero Hour by Speaker Meira Kumar.
In the Rajya Sabha BJP MPs demanded a discussion on the issue as soon as the House met. After Rajya Sabha Chairperson and Vice President Hamid Ansari's repeated pleas to the MPs failed to pacify them, the House was adjourned for 15 minutes. Even after the resumption slogan shouting continued forcing the second adjournment till 12 noon.
The Opposition has been asking for a reinvestigation after more than 25 years since the controversial deal came to light. Even though Lindstrom said that there was no evidence to show that former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi had taken a bribe in the Bofors deal, he added that Rajiv didn't stop the cover-up to protect main accused Ottavio Quattrocchi.
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