'Sonia Bachao Abhiyan' Betrays Congress' Fear, Says Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad

New Delhi: The Congress is so unnerved by allegations of corruption that it has launched a "Sonia Bacahao Abhiyan (Mission Save Sonia)", union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said today, suggesting that the opposition party's moves betray a panic about its chief, Sonia Gandhi, being indicted in the AgustaWestland scam.

"She has said 'I am not afraid of anyone'. But one should be afraid of public shaming," Mr Prasad said on a day which saw the Agusta helicopter order, made when the Congress was last in power, take prime spot in Parliament.

The Congress has rejected accusations that leaders including Mrs Gandhi were either complicit in, or blocked investigations into, corrupt payments linked to an order of a dozen helicopters from Agusta, owned by Italian defence giant Finmeccanica.
 A Milan court recently sentenced the former bosses of Finmeccanica and its AgustaWestland unit to jail terms for corruption in the India deal. Documents it referred to included letters from middlemen that mentioned Mrs Gandhi and other Congress leaders as people to pursue or influence to land the deal.

The CBI and the Enforcement Directorate, which tackles financial crimes, are trying to piece together who was bribed in India for the helicopter scam.

In Parliament, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said the Congress' misdoings stand exposed. Congress lawmakers walked out in protest, demanding that the Supreme Court monitor the investigation into the helicopter deal, which was signed in 2010 and cancelled in 2014. Earlier this morning, Mrs Gandhi led a Congress rally which turned into her courting arrest, along with her son and party Vice President, Rahul - a move in keeping with the aggressive strategy the Congress is exercising.