Tatra scam second biggest after Bofors: BJP

KOLKATA: BJP today said the Tatra scam was the second biggest after the Bofors scam and demanded immediate resignation of Defence Minister A K Antony for allegedly patronising corruption.

"This (Tatra) is the second biggest scam after the Bofors scam and it has exposed that weapons of our soldiers are not up to the standard," BJP national spokesperson Prakash Javdekar told a press conference here.

Javedkar alleged that the defence minister was in the know of things and Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad had in 2009 made a communication to Antony about the scam and alerted the government.

"But the defence minister did not act in the last 30 months," he said, demanding immediate resignation of Antony "who has lost moral right to continue as defence minister."

Javdekar said he was not satisfied with the statement of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee that there was no rift between the defence minister and Army Chief Gen V K Singh. "They are trying to hide facts."

The BJP leader criticised the Centre, particularly Antony, for "sitting on the issue for 30 months even as he knew all the facts and crying hoarse about absence of a written complaint."

Javdekar, who raised the issue in the Rajya Sabha yesterday, demanded a clear statement from the government about the action it had taken so far on the "highly vital" issue.