We may do what we could not do in Bofors, the Defence Minister tells the Lok Sabha.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Friday claimed in the Lok Sabha that former air chief S.P. Tyagi and others under investigation now in the VVIP helicopter scandal were small fish, and the big sharks would soon be caught.

The Minister also said the NDA government would show the Congress how to conduct a defence deal in the purchase of Rafale fighter jets from France.

“Air Chief Marshall Tyagi and Gautam Khaitan were small people who simply washed their hands in the flowing Ganga (of corruption). Where the Ganga was flowing got clear that day in Rajya Sabha (on Wednesday),” Mr. Parrikar said.

Stout defence

Putting up a stout defence of the government’s stand and articulating its position with grater clarity than he did in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, Mr Parrikar assured the Lok Sabha that his government would track down the main beneficiaries of the kickbacks.

As Congress members protested at the comment, he retorted back, “Why are you concerned? I have not named anybody. You seem to know where the Ganga was going.”

'UPA went slow on copter deal probe’

Speaking in the Lok Sabha on Friday on the VVIP helicopter scam, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said since there was agreement in the House that there was corruption in the deal, it was clear who got the money as it was UPA which was in power and not BJP.

“…Then Defence Minister, and now everyone agreed that corruption happened… So, it is basically logical that money has been paid to someone from the other side, not from this side,” he said.

Rafale overpriced: Congress

Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia brought up the issue of the Rafale fighter deal under negotiation with France, and questioned the logic of the government-to-government deal currently under negotiation as also the price of $9 billion for 36 jets in comparison to the $10 billion for 126 jets under the earlier MMRCA (Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft) contest.

In response, Mr. Parrikar said the original MMRCA never happened and then Defence Minister A.K. Antony was too careful trying to protect his clean image. Rejecting the high cost being discussed in public, he cautioned against going by media reports which sound very real but can be misleading. “We will save money. We will show how our deal is cheaper that their deal,” he noted.

He said while the NDA government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee had changed the altitude requirement from 6,000 metres to 4,500 metres to avoid single vendor situation in the VVIP helicopter acquisition, the UPA government made them more stringent to favour AgustaWestland by making cabin height of 1.8 m mandatory. “Why were SQRs made so restrictive which narrowed down the choices to a limited range of helicopters?” he asked.