BJP Demands PAC Take up AgustaWestland Chopper Issue

• The BJP demanded on Wednesday that the Public Accounts Committee take up the contentious AgustaWestland issue when the parliamentary audit watchdog held its first meeting after being reconstituted.
  

• PAC Chairman K V Thomas, however, remained non-committal about the issue. He is supposed to have said that they could discuss it later as the meeting was confined to deciding on subjects the panel has to look into over the next year.
  
• TMC member Sukhendu Sekhar Roy noted that the CAG is examining a number of issues, including defence purchases which were made in the past. She said that Shashi Kant Sharma (Comptroller and Auditor General) had served in the ministry and there could be questions about conflict of interest.