News Desk: The Bofors storm hit the Parliament on Thursday with two adjournments of Rajya Sabha. The main opposition BJP slammed the government and demanded a fresh debate on the illegal payoffs case.

The BJP had given a notice for suspension of Question Hour in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha to discuss Bofors after former Swedish police chief Sten Lindstrom revealed on a website that he was the Deep Throat in the Bofors case and he had leaked over 350 documents to Indian journalist Chitra Subramanian, who had broken the story first.


The issue was raised in the Lok Sabha on Thursday by the BJP MP and former defence minister Jaswant Singh. He said that Bofors is a saga of continuing corruption. "I am very happy that Amitabh Bachchan's name is cleared from the Bofors scam. We must find out why was Amitabh Bachchan's name involved in the Bofors scam in the first place. Quattrocchi was taken out of the country by the government. How did this happen? Why was Quattrocchi red corner notice withdrawn in the Bofors case?", he said.


Even though Congress said that the case has been closed, the opposition has been demanding for a re-investigation into the scam after more than 25 years since the controversial deal came to light.


Lindstrom in an interview said that there was no evidence to show that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had taken a bribe in the Bofors deal. However, Mr Gandhi did not stop the cover-up to protect main accused Ottavio Quattrocchi, he added.  


The opposition spared no chance to slam the government following the report saying the case is not a closed chapter. The CPM also joined the BJP over the issue saying people voted Congress out because of the controversial Bofors deal in the 1980s.


Rajya Sabha witnessed two adjournments in the pre-noon session on Thursday after the BJP and AIADMK members created ruckus in the House over the allegation that payoffs were made in purchase of Bofors guns during the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's tenure.


The opposition members displayed copies of a newspaper interview given by Lindstrom where he said Gandhi did nothing to prevent the cover-up to protect Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, who is alleged to have received pay-offs in the case.


The House was adjourned for 15 minutes. When the House met again, the members continued disrupting the proceedings with shouting slogans, "Quattrocchi ko kis ney bachaya (Who saved Quattrocchi)".


Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar said Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitely that the Additional Solicitor General, who had done paper work in the Bofors investigation case. The House was adjourned till 2 pm.

 

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