Michel extradition: 'Family' in Congress getting sleepless nights, BJP says

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday said that Congress leaders were getting "sleepless nights" since Christian Michel, the accused middleman in the

AugustaWestland

scam case, had been extradited from the UAE.


BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said that the 'family' in Congress was rattled.

"The Congress is rattled after the extradition of Christian Michel.They know the reason. They had sent their team to defend Christian Michel. Congress's Aljo K Joseph appeared for him in Court, they later went through the charade of removing him. The family in Congress is getting sleepless nights," said Patra.

Training his guns at Congress, Patra questioned who asked Joseph to appear for Michel.

"Joseph said yesterday that somebody asked him to take Michel's case. Who is that somebody? Congress should answer," said Patra.

The BJP spokesperson alleged that other than Joseph, Congress sent Vishnu Shankar, son of a Kerala Congress leader and Sriram Parakkat, an NSUI member who have worked under big Congress lawyers like Salman Khurshid and Kapil Sibal before.

Patra added,"This is a signal to the agencies that the Congress party stands rock solid behind Christian Michel."

The Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VIP helicopter deal, finalised during the previous government of Manmohan Singh, has been mired in allegations of kickbacks. Michel has been accused of bribing many politicians, officials and journalists to swing the deal. In 2014, India scrapped the contract with Italian company Finmeccanica's British subsidiary AgustaWestland for supplying the choppers to the Indian Air Force.


Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.