New Delhi, May 5
Rahul Gandhi’s candid remark on the country’s premier investigating agency - the CBI - has been described by the BJP as a “confessional statement” of the Congress. To a question whether the CBI was being misused by the ruling regime, Rahul today said it was a “systematic issue” and not a question of a particular agency.

When asked to respond whether or not the CBI was misused by the Congress to further its agenda, he said: “It is an issue related to the system. It is not an issue of a particular agency. Every party, which is in power, could put pressure on institutions.” The BJP has termed the comment as a “confessional statement” of the ruling party that it was misusing the investigating agency. As per BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley: “The Congress today said every government misuses the CBI. When there were some charges of corruption against the Indira Gandhi government, she had said the corruption is a global phenomena. Today's statement is in that tradition. In a way this is a confessional statement by the ruling party that they are misusing the CBI”.

He reiterated that if the NDA was voted to power, it would form a commission that would explore and suggest measures and changes to prevent misuse of the CBI. The BJP had announced the formation of such commission after the red corner notice against Bofors scam accused Ottavio Quattrocchi was withdrawn by the CBI on the opinion of the Attorney General of India.

Even as the Congress is facing severe criticism from the Opposition on the Quattrocchi issue, Rahul called it a “dead issue” that is repeatedly raised ahead of every election. “It is an embarrassment. It is a dead issue. It is repeatedly raised. It is finished. There is no interest (in the issue),” he said.

After the CBI dropped the name of the Italian businessman from its red-corner list, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had come out in defence of the decision saying India would be “looked down” by the world community if the red corner notice against Quattrocchi was not removed.

But there was also a point of vague consensus between the Congress and the BJP on one issue in the Congress general secretary’s interaction with the media.

Referring to Advani's argument of getting money from in Swiss banks, back, Gandhi said he agreed with the idea. “He (Advani) has raised the question of Indian money in Swiss banks, I completely agree with him. It’s been there for 60 years and everybody agrees. Then why all of us don't work together to get that money back...Let us crack the problem and not waste time talking of the amount of money that is there,” he said.