New Delhi: A debate in Rajya Sabha (Upper House of the Parliament) on the AgustaWestland helicopter scam spiralled into chaos on Wednesday after ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) senior leader Subramanian Swamy attacked Congress President Sonia Gandhi describing her as “Super Prime Minister” who overrode decisions of former prime minister Manmohan Singh.

“I think Manmohan Singh was overruled by the ‘Super PM’ on major decisions. Before even Manmohan Singh, she should be interrogated first by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI),” Swamy said in the House referring to her as being the decision maker on all things, including the Agusta scam.

Swamy’s reference to Sonia had her party on its feet in protest.

Congress leader Anand Sharma demanded that all that has been said should be authenticated.

The Congress party was led by senior leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi who attacked BJP stating, “there is no investigation by CBI, Enforcement Directorate and we are relying on misinterpretations of an Italian court judgement? Are we a banana republic?”

BJP also attacked Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi demanding that he explain how Guido Haschke, a middleman in the Agusta deal, served as a director in 2009 for real estate developer promoted by the family of Gandhi’s close aide Kanishka Singh.

BJP lawmaker Kirit Somaiya made a fresh attack on Rahul in the Lok Sabha (Lower House of the Parliament) on Wednesday, linking his purchase of shops in a mall owned by Emaar-MGF to the AgustaWestland scam.

Somaiya said it is not just Sonia but the “entire Gandhi family” that must come clean on its close links to middlemen who acted on behalf of Agusta.

Rahul’s office says that when he acquired the shops, he declared them as required to officials, and sold them in 2010 which is why they are not listed among his assets in recent papers.

The BJP alleges that the verdict last month of an Italian court — which concluded that bribes of up to €30 million euros or (Dh126.5 million or Rs2.26 billion) were paid in India for the chopper deal — exposes how the Congress, then in power, colluded with Agusta.

The Agusta deal was signed in 2010 and was cancelled in 2014, after the allegations of corruption surfaced. Sonia and other Congress leaders are mentioned in documents that the Italian court used to conclude that bribes were paid to clinch the deal. But the court does not indict them for corruption.