Cong needs to explain, Govt should make public documents: BJP

NEW DELHI: BJP today demanded an explanation from Congress on the "serious" "accusation" based on Wikileaks that Rajiv Gandhi may have been a middleman for a Swedish aircraft company when his mother was the Prime Minister and urged the government to make public documents on the issue.

"These revelations are serious. The nation has a right to know the truth. These are 30 years old documents which point out to a possible connection of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi in different defence acquisitions," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.

"The party owes an explanation and the government must make all related documents public," he added.

A newspaper report today claimed that as per secret cables leaked by Wikileaks Rajiv Gandhi may have been a middleman for the Swedish company Saab-Scania, when it was trying to sell its Viggen fighter aircraft to India in the 1970s. His mother Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister then. The Congress has trashed the claim as "baseless".

"There is an accusation that Rajiv Gandhi is playing some role in aircraft purchase and Indira Gandhi taking a final call in defence deals. These allegations become even more serious against the backdrop of the helicopter scams," Javadekar said, referring to the Augusta Westland deal which came to light recently.

Javadekar maintained that earlier there were charges of Italian businessman Ottavio Qauttrochi's involvement in the Bofors scam.

"Why is it that in deals of Swedish and Italian firms, there is a reference to the (Gandhi) family," Javadekar said.