BJP on Tuesday demanded the resignation of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi as MPs, citing a book by a journalist, who is credited with exposing the alleged Bofors scam, to claim that the two Congress netas were linked with Italian middleman Ottavio Quattrocchi.
BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia claimed the “huge revelations: made by Chitra Subramaniam in her book ‘Bofors Gate’ are worrisome, and alleged that Quattrocchi used his proximity to the then PM Rajiv Gandhi and his wife Sonia Gandhi to pull strings in finalising defence deals.”
It has long been alleged that Quattrocchi, who is no more, enjoyed warm ties with Sonia, who is also of Italian origin, and used it to his business advantage in India. He was one of the accused in CBI’s long-winded probe into the alleged bribery in the Bofors gun deal after the kickback was first reported by the Swedish state radio in 1987.
Bhatia alleged that defence files during Rajiv’s term would be taken to Quattrocchi so that he could change them to favour companies of his choice. The current Congress leadership, including party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, should answer if it was no violation of oath by Rajiv, he said at a press conference.
He alleged that Quattrocchi’s bank accounts were defrozen by CBI in 2005 during Congress-led UPA rule at the behest of Sonia. “Sonia and Rahul should resign from their position till they make a full disclosure about their family’s relations with Quattrocchi. Till then, they have no right to remain MPs.”
