Let them go ahead with the probe: Sonia

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, DEC. 21. The Congress president and Leader of the Opposition, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, today asserted that she had nothing to fear on the Bofors issue. ``The Government is welcome to go ahead with the probe and come out with the proof,'' she told newspersons at an Iftaar hosted by her this evening.

Referring to the allegations by the Bharatiya Janata Party linking her to Mr. Ottavio Quattrocchi, an alleged recipient of the Bofors kickbacks, Ms. Gandhi said: ``My husband had told Parliament that neither he nor any member of the family was involved and I stick to that.'' She said she was in favour of the law taking its own course. ``Let the truth come out once and for all,'' she added.

Asked if she agreed with the statement made by Mr. Quattrocchi - who was arrested in Malaysia on Wednesday - that the issue was politically motivated, Ms. Gandhi said, ``the issue was being raised time and again for the last 16 years.''

On whether the Bofors issue was being used by the BJP to deflect attention from the Ayodhya issue, she reiterated her earlier comment, ``all I am saying is that they are using it politically, however, let the truth come out once and for all.''

While on Wednesday the BJP's reaction to the news of Mr. Quattrocchi's arrest was subdued, today the party took up the issue with a flourish.

The party spokesperson, Mr. Vijay Kumar Malhotra, asked why Ms. Gandhi was silent on the issue (that was before she spoke up) and suggested that since the deal had been made between Nobel Industries and the Indian Government, there could be no valid explanation for money going into the accounts of Mr. Quattrocchi (except the conjecture that he had used his influence with the Gandhi family to swing the deal in favour of Bofors).

Mr. Malhotra denied that the BJP had first raked up the Ayodhya issue and now Bofors in preparation for a mid-term poll. ``Nothing can be further from the truth,'' he said.

In a hard-hitting statement, Mr. Malhotra described Mr. Quattrocchi as Ms. Gandhi's ``gift to this nation'' and said ``truth has an inconvenient habit of leaking itself.''

The process of investigation and prosecution in the Bofors case had been painfully slow, but, ``slowly and surely, all those who have committed this crime of corruption are being brought to book,'' the party said.

Mr. Malhotra's other charge was against the former Prime Minister, Mr. P.V. Narasimha Rao. He alleged that the Rao Government had not taken timely steps to impound Mr. Quattrocchi's passport and prevent him from fleeing this country.

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