Attempts being made to corner Sonia, Rahul Gandhi before Lok Sabha polls: Agusta case

Mumbai, Jan 2 The Shiv Sena Wednesday charged that the cases of supposed agent Christian Michel in AgustaWestland case were an endeavor to corner Congress leaders Sonia and Rahul Gandhi in front of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

The Sena, a partner of the BJP at the Centre and in Maharashtra, further alleged that the government machinery was being abused to nail political rivals.

A Delhi court hearing the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper case had a week ago forced limitations on Michel meeting his attorneys in the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) authority.

This was after the office said he was abusing legitimate access by passing chits to the supporters putting forth how to handle inquiries on "Mrs Gandhi'.

In its application looking for augmentation of Michel's remand, the ED, which is the test office fin the case, also asserted that he had spoken during questioning about the "son of an Italian woman" and how he is going to become the next prime minister of the country.

The Sena said when Michel was removed from Dubai, Assembly poll campaigns were in progress in five states and the "BJP's tail was ablaze".

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi had at some survey encourages talked about this agent and asserted there would be explosive revelations and that he would not extra anyone. We currently comprehend what he was implying at," the Sena said in an article in its mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

It is "laughable" that even before the test against Michel could start, Modi pointed fingers at the Gandhi family and cleared the line of test, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party said.

"The BJP, which should lose polls in five states, lost regardless of Michel's removal to India. It very well may be unmistakably checked that 'Mission Michel' is gone for 2019," the Marathi distribution said.

Referring to the verdict in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh experience case, it said BJP boss Amit Shah and others got a spotless chit in it as the CBI "argued under the watchful eye of the court that there was weight on the organization to name enormous BJP leaders".

Their names would have remained in the list of the accused had the Congress been in power and the Congress today is making similar allegations, it said.

"The government machinery is under the feet of two-four individuals and being used wrongly to nail political opponents,"the Sena affirmed.

It said there have been allegations of kickbacks gotten in the AgustaWestland bargain and the guilty parties, regardless of how "huge" they are, ought not be saved.

But, just because Michel has taken the name of Sonia Gandhi and different Congress pioneers, people won't overlook the Rafale jet scam, it said.

"Like Sonia Gandhi and others have been named here (in AgustaWestland case), the previous French president has named Anil Ambani (gathering) and this (Rafale) scam merits nearly a huge number of crores," the Sena said.

"This is an attempt to corner Sonia Gandhi and his child before 2019 (polls) and after Quattrocchi (late Italian specialist who was a key figure in the Bofors embarrassment), Michel 'puran' will start in the nation now," it said.

Issues like expansion, joblessness, demonetisation, farmer suicides and Ram temple will take the secondary lounge now and elections will be battled on Michel's name, the article said in snide comments.