Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy on Friday gave notice in the Rajya Sabha for moving Breach of Privilege Motion against Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad over his remarks related to the AgustaWestland issue.
The Congress also gave a breach of privilege notice in the Rajya Sabha against the Defence Ministry for issuing a statement on the chopper deal when Parliament is in session.
Deputy Chairman P J Kurien told Swamy, who took oath as a nominated member on Tuesday, “If you have given a privilege notice, there is a rule. The notice will be first examined by Chairman Hamid Ansari and if he finds a prima facie case, then the notice will be referred to the Privileges Committee.”
Earlier in the day, Swamy tweeted: ‘Today I will seek to move a Breach of Privilege (motion) against Ghulam Nabi Azad for his falsely stating in the RS that the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) had blacklisted Finmeccanica (sic).’
On April 27, Azad had said in the House that the UPA government had ‘blacklisted’ AgustaWestland.
“So, I would like to ask this question from the government. A company, AugustaWestland company, which was blacklisted by the UPA government, why did the Modi government allow this blacklisted company to take part in ‘Make in India’?” Azad had said.
Meanwhile, the Congress’ notice was given by MPs Shantaram Naik and Hussain Dalwai. The two contended that the statement on the issue should have been given in the House by the defence minister as the Rajya Sabha is in session, party sources said.
According to Congress members, publishing of a clarification through a government website, therefore, constitutes a breach of privilege of the House and of the members, the sources said.
The Defence Ministy had in a statement on Thursday refuted Congress’ claims that AgustaWestland was blacklisted by the UPA government and said it was the National Democratic Alliance, on July 3, 2014, that had actually put on hold all procurement and acquisition cases in the pipeline of six companies involved in the VVIP chopper scam.
On the Congress allegation that the NDA gave clearance to a joint venture involving AgustaWestland through the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, the ministry had said this proposal was approved on September 2, 2011 based on an application by Indian Rotorcraft Ltd, a joint venture of Tata Sons with AgustaWestlandNV, Netherlands.
Image: BJP member Subramanian Swamy speaks in the Rajya Sabha on Friday. Photograph: PTI Photo
