Pali (Rajasthan): Using the extradition of alleged AgustaWestland deal middleman Christian Michel to score political points, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday tore into the Gandhi family as he looked to build the narrative of honest versus corrupt in Rajasthan on the last day of campaigning in the state.
Referring to the politically sensitive Rs 3,600 crore chopper deal from the UPA era, Modi told an enthusiastic crowd that his government had brought the middleman involved in a helicopter scam from Dubai and he will now spill the secrets of the politicians he had served.
“I had mentioned the VVIP helicopter case, I spoke about it, about the letter written by Sonia Gandhi. After BJP came to power, we looked for the files, we dug around. They had hidden it away. But one middleman finally was caught after years of digging and findings,” the PM said during his rally in Pali.
"Let's see how far this goes," he said.
The note he may be referring to is how the Gandhi family has been linked in the case. It was recovered from one of the two other middlemen in the case, Guido Haschke, and contained a mention of a payment made against the word “family”, which has been alleged to be the Gandhi family. It also mentioned "AP", which is alleged to be Sonia's close aide Ahmed Patel.
Michel has termed this note to be fake and Congress has blamed the BJP-led central government of using the central probe agencies to “target the Gandhis and tarnish the image of the opposition”. Through his lawyer, Michel had also stated that CBI had pressured him to sign a confession that said he had met former Congress president Sonia Gandhi when the deal was being negotiated in 2010.
This note also featured in one of the five questions posed by the CBI immediately after Michel’s arrival in India on Tuesday night. The case has given the BJP an opportunity to assert that the extradition was an unequivocal affirmation of the government's "seriousness in fighting corruption" and has put the Congress on the defensive.
Modi also took on the Gandhi family over the National Herald tax case, and said that his government had scored a win against them in the Supreme Court on Tuesday thanks to the courage of a "chaiwala".
The SC had allowed the I-T department to reopen the case, but stopped it from taking any coercive action against Congress chief Rahul Gandhi or Sonia Gandhi. Alleging that the Gandhi family had been enjoying privileges for four generations, Modi said that it was the "victory of the honest".
"Now I will see how you escape... Look at the courage of a 'chaiwala' who took those running country for four generations to the court's door," Modi said.
Making a final push for his party, Modi asked the gathering who had spread the venom of casteism and created urban-rural divides. The Congress, he asserted, had lost the election and was now contemplating who to hold responsible for its defeat.
"The Congress' 'gaaje-baaje' company thought the BJP was finished in Rajasthan. Now they are saying they are losing due to infighting and rebel candidates," he declared.
He said people were clearly in favour of the BJP in the desert state and it would once again form government. The public has decided. Now it is our job to win every booth in Rajasthan. Our mantra should be 'mera polling booth, sabse mazboot'," he said.
The results for the elections will be declared on December 11.
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