Quattrocchi: Manmohan, Sonia Gandhi blamed
N Bhadran Nair

     New Delhi: The BJP today came down heavily on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi in de- freezing the London accounts of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi. Party Chief Rajnath Singh said without the sanction of the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi, Union Law Minister could not have acted on his own in such a sensitive case. "The government is responsible for this and I believe that it is not possible that without the Congress President and Prime Minister's support, any minister can go to a court in London and say that since there are not enough evidences, the issue should come to an end," said Singh in an exclusive interview to ANI. "I think both the Prime Minister and Congress President who runs the government should be held responsible," he added. New Delhi gave a clean chit to Quattrocchi, saying it found no evidence against the Italian businessman, paving the way for de- freezing his bank accounts in Britain.

    Union Law Minister H.R Bharadwaj, who's resignation the opposition leaders are demanding, had earlier said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), had conveyed its findings to Britain, where Quattrocchi's bank accounts were temporarily suspended in 2001 after his name surfaced in the 1986 sale of 155-mm howitzers to India's army by the Swedish firm. India's biggest arms scandal ever, the Bofors bribery case toppled former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi from power in 1989. Bharadwaj said the British government had been pressing for clear evidence against the businessman as he had already won an extradition case filed by India in a Malaysian court. While Rajiv Gandhi was cleared posthumously of involvement in the 1.2 billion dollars deal, which was signed when he was Prime Minister, the Delhi High Court had in 2004, also acquitted the Hinduja brothers of all charges of their involvement. Reacting to the possible return of Uma Bharti to the party fold, Rajnath Singh said he would abide by the decision of the Parliamentary Board. "Even before I took over the post of party president, the Parliamentary Board had taken its decision on this (Uma Bharti). Parliamentary Board is the apex forum of any party and I would not like to comment on its stand," said Singh.

   Reacting to Uma Bharati's charges that the BJP had betrayed the Ram Janmabhoomi movement and failed to deliver the promises it made before coming to power, Rajnath Singh said the BJP, as part of NDA was bound by the common minimum programme, but it had never abandoned the Ram temple issue. He however, said the Centre should take steps to find a solution to the dispute. "I believe that the Ram temple issue is a national issue, a cultural issue and the ruling UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government should take steps to find out a solution to the temple dispute. We always wanted the construction of the Ram temple and we still believe that the dispute should be resolved," Singh said. The dispute over the site has dragged on for years in courts, which has banned any construction on the land until the issue is settled. Rajnath Singh also denied knowledge of any plans by Atal Behari Vajpayee to build a Ram temple six months before the last general elections, sacrificing the government.

Quattrocchi's extradition sought

     New Delhi: Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) General Secretary Arun Jaitely has written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here today, demanding the extradition of Ottavio Quattrocchi, the main accused in the Bofors gun deal scam. He has also called for a reversal of the probable instructions given to the British crown prosecutors to defreeze Quattrocchi's bank accounts. In view of the reports that Additional Solicitor General B Dutta allegedly visited London to request the Crown Prosecution Service to de-freeze two bank accounts of Quattrocchi, Jaitley said that efforts must be made freeze the accounts to prevent any possible money transfer to unknown accounts. "The Crown Prosecutor in Britain will obviously act on the basis of the opinion given to him by the Additional Solicitor General. These two bank accounts are likely to be de-frozen soon and the money would immediately fly out of these accounts to unknown destinations. This needs to be prevented immediately," said Jaitley. Jaitley also asked the Prime Minister to initiate action against Union Law Minister HR Bharadwaj on whose authority a senior law officer travelled to UK to give the required clearance to defreeze Quattrocchi's accounts. "The Minister of Law & Justice H.R. Bhardwaj and the Additional Solicitor General of India, B Datta, in the criminal proceedings against Mr. Ottavio Quattrocchi have shaken the confidence of the people of India in the fairness of the Government," Jaitley said in his letter. Law Minister Bhardwaj had earlier given a clean chit to Additional Solicitor General B Dutta's visit to London last month where the latter had reportedly made a personal request to defreeze the operations in two bank accounts of Quattrocchi in the BSI AG bank in London.

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