Antony rules out reports of his resignation over chopper deal
New Delhi: Defence Minister AK Antony on Tuesday rejected the demands of his resignation in VVIP chopper deal and said that he was preparing to discuss the issue in the upcoming Budget Session of the Parliament.
“I will do my duty. I am getting ready for the Parliament session,” he said.
He further clarified that there is no rift within the UPA government over the annulment of Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal. “Nothing like that … whole Government is acting together. It is the decision of the government that we must get to the root of the controversy. We must get the truth, find out… and whoever did it should be brought to the law at the earliest…there is no difference,” he added.
Replying to a volley of questions on why action is not being taken against individuals here, Antony said that so far whatever has come out is “media reports” and promised that the government will not compromise on transparency.
“We are trying to get the details of the investigation. …We are proceeding as per the law. Unless we get some concrete evidence….unless something is officially with us, how can we act? We are rigorously trying to get the truth. Before that we do not want to jump to conclusions,” the Defence Minister said.
At present, a joint team of CBI and Defence Ministry is in Italy to gather more information over the alleged scam.
The Defence Ministry had last week initiated action for annulling the contract. It had also issued a formal show-cause notice to AgustaWestland to explain within a week why the contract should not be cancelled.
The matter came to light after Italian agencies arrested the then Finmeccanica CEO Giuseppe Orsi for suspected corruption to seal the deal.
