The Shiv Sena on Wednesday targeted ally BJP saying that people will not forget the Rafale ‘scam’ just because it is ‘raking up’ the AugustaWestland case in which alleged middlemen Christian Michel is naming a top Congress leader.

The Sena, through its mouthpiece ‘Saamna’, rued that various issues facing the country seemed to be taking a backseat.

“It seems that various problems such as rising prices, unemployment, demonetisation and construction of Ram temple will also be relegated to the background to make way for the Michel issue,” said the editorial.

It called its editorial ‘Mission Michel-2019’, saying the whole episode is aimed at the upcoming Lok Sabha election. The editorial attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that even before the Michel’s interrogation, Modi had named the Gandhi family.

“This shows the direction of the investigation. Despite bringing Michel to India, the BJP lost in all the five state elections,” it added. The Sena, despite being an ally, is losing no opportunity to target the BJP through ‘Saamna’ and its public rallies.

In 2010, India signed the agreement to buy AgustaWestland AW101 helicopters. In 2013, Italian officials arrested Giuseppe Orsi, the CEO of AgustaWestland’s parent company, claiming irregularities in the deal.

Soon after, a probe was ordered and the very next year, India scrapped the deal. There were allegations that kickbacks for the deal were as much as Rs 423 crore of which Michel is alleged to have received Rs 225 crore from the firm. Michel was recently extradited from Dubai.

In the last few months, the Congress led by its president Rahul Gandhi has been targeting the BJP and PM Modi over alleged irregularities in the Rs 59,000 crore deal to purchase 36 French-made Rafale fighter planes.

First Published: Jan 02, 2019 20:32 IST