In his column called ‘Stop Politics of Vendetta’ July 26 ,2003 journalist turned politician and member of the Rajya Sabha, Rajeev Shukla targeted the V P Singh government for its decision to ground the Airbus 320 fleet more than a decade ago.

He also accused the CBI for filing corruption charges against the Rajiv Gandhi government. Shukla wants the Vajpayee government to initiate a probe against those who decided to ground the fleet, causing the nation a loss of 200 crores.

The CBI submitted its final report to the Court seeking permission to close the case because of lack of co-operation from the French manufacturers of the airbus. Second, a crucial file on the correspondence between the civil aviation ministry and the airbus industries, Indian Airlines and I.A.E the US engine-makers for the aircraft, disappeared. After the V P Singh government, the investigation of the case was kept in the cold storage until a public interest litigation petition was filed. Shukla should’ve checked facts before passing a harsh judgement.

The V P Singh government assumed office in November 1989 and the decision to ground the fleet and to register a case was taken in February ’90. The immediate provocation was the crash of an A 320 aircraft in Bangalore in February ’90.

From the very beginning, there were doubts about the aircraft’s reliability. In October 1988, the Indian Commercial Pilot’s Association had written to the government that there was no infrastructure for the aircraft’s maintenance in the country.

Before this—in June ’88— an A 320 aircraft on test flight had crashed at the Paris airshow. In August ’83, a seven-members committee headed by Air Marshal Dilbar Singh had recommended purchase of 12 wide-bodied Boeing 757 aircraft and in June ’84, the Boeing was issued with a letter of intent.

But there was a somersault later and on the basis of an unsolicited offer from the airbus industries, the decision to opt for A 320 aircraft was taken in a hurry. A CBI case was registered against public servants, including then secretary civil aviation, Dr S S Sidhu, also under investigation for his role in the submarine deal.

But investigation hit a block the moment the government changed in November ’90. But we held our ground firmly in this case as in others such as St Kitt’s—as a result I was shunted out of CBI.

I decided to fight and went up to the Supreme Court, accusing the then government of malafide and vindictiveness. In ’96-’97, the Supreme Court decided to monitor the progress of sensitive cases and gave an order providing autonomy to CBI and CVC.

The author is former joint director, CBI