EXCLUSIVE: 'Why was Agusta a priority, and not the fighter aircraft for UPA?', asks Col Rajyavardhan Rathore as he explains why Agusta was a scam, and not Rafale - Republic World

MoS (Independent) Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Col Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, spoke exclusively to Republic TV's editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami in the latest edition of 'Nation Wants to Know'. Col Rathore responded to question on AgustaWestland scam by stating that his government will follow all the rules and regulations, which would take time

by Narayan R

MoS (Independent) Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Col Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, spoke exclusively to Republic TV's editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami in the latest edition of 'Nation Wants to Know', wherein he opened up on his government's stand on a number of matters.

One of the most important point, which has been a matter of debate ahead of the much-awaited Lok Sabha polls, has been about the AgustaWestland scam, and when will the agencies be able to extract answers from the middleman Christian Michel.

Col Rathore responded to this very question by stating that his government will follow all the rules and regulations, which would take time, while also taking a dig at the Congress for prioritising Agusta over fighter aircraft during their tenure.

"It does take time. Since we are not in a dictatorship, as the Congress would like people to believe, we follow the rules and law of the land. They have their own processes of finding out (truth). This is the question that the agencies are now trying to find out. Why was Agusta a priority, and not the fighter aircraft at that point of time? They (UPA) chose to invest on Agusta and not fighter aircraft. Why were they so interested in that? And why a middleman? We didn't have a middleman, they had a middleman. Now we have the middleman sitting here in the country. That and the National Herald case, there are many absolute, with evidence, allegations against them," he said.