Parliament to debate AgustaWestland case later this week

NEW DELHI: After the government agreed to go by the Rajya Sabha chairman’s decision on the Congress demand for a debate on the CAG report on the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation, the ruling and Opposition sides are now set for a debate in Parliament later this week on the AgustaWestland case. There are indications that both the sides have agreed on an elaborate but timebound probe into the case.

Congress and allies are rooting for a Supreme Court-monitored CBI probe while the government is considering the option of constituting a special team comprising various agencies to probe the matter. There have been speculation about a joint parliament committee to probe the matter but it has been pointed out that when the UPA-2 brought a resolution for a JPC probe on Agusta, the BJP had opposed it.

With Congress clearly propping up the CAG report in the GSPC gas exploration project as a counter to Agusta, the former’s demand for admitting notices for a Rajya Sabha debate on GSPC led to a couple of adjournments, before the government agreed to leave the decision to the Rajya Sabha chairman.

“The government finally agreeing to go by the decision of chairman on discussing the CAG report on GSPC irregularities to the tune of over Rs 19,000 crore is a victory for the Congress party…As far as the slated debate on AgustaWestland is concerned, we are looking forward to participate in it,” AICC spokesperson Jairam Ramesh said at a news conference in New Delhi on Monday.

Ramesh alleged the defence minister was “leaking file noting in the run up to the House debate” and sought early decision by the chair on the Congress’ pending notices to move a breach of privileges against the defence minister. Both the Houses functioned smoothly on Monday as part of a government-Congress agreement, reported by ETlast week, with focus on passing non-contentious legislation and other listed businesses.