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Updated: Dec 31, 2018 13:50 IST

Former defence minister AK Antony on Monday came out in defence of Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi saying that they two had never interfered in any defence deals during the UPA regime.

“Government, BJP misusing agencies to manufacture lies. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi never interfered in defence deal,” Antony told reporters.

The senior Congress leader’s comments come close on the heels of the BJP and the Congress trading accusations against each other in the AgustaWestland VVIP Chopper scam.

On Sunday, the Congress had alleged that the Modi government had got AgustaWestland and its parent firm Finmeccanica removed from the blacklisted companies allowing it to bid for 100 helicopters for the Indian Navy.

Addressing a press conference, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala had said that the Congress would “investigate the nexus between the company and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government when it comes to power” in 2019.

Even as the Congress accused the BJP and PM Modi of protecting AgustaWestland, the BJP accused the opposition party of defending Christian Michel, an alleged middleman in the deal, and asked why it was scared of a probe into the case.

Also Read: Christian Michel passed chits to his lawyer for help on questions about ‘Mrs Gandhi’ during probe: ED tells court

The two parties have been trading accusations ever since the Enforcement Directorate told a Delhi court that Christian Michel was misusing legal access and that he was handing his lawyers notes on how he should deal with questions on a “Mrs Gandhi” and a certain “son of the Italian lady who could be the Prime Minister”.