The Bhartiya Janata Party on Monday nailed down Defence Minister AK Antony for buying Tatra trucks from abroad at exorbitant price, sabotaging the preparedness of the Defence Ministry's own vehicle factory at Jabalpur to supply them at less than half the price.

Its Jabalpur MP Rakesh Singh demanded a court-monitored independent probe and the resignation of Antony for sleeping over a letter he had written long back on May 12, 2008 on the sudden order in 2007 to buy 1990 Tatra trucks through the Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML), suspecting a major scam.

The Jabalpur factory was ready to supply the new 6x6 trucks at Rs 30 lakh each as against Tatra's supply of 4x4 vehicles at Rs 65 lakh. The Army is to buy about 8,500 such all-terrain trucks and it means the exchequer will be put to loss of not less than Rs 3000 crore, Singh alleged.

Party spokesman Prakash Javadekar told a press conference that Antony cannot take the alibi that he learned something amiss in the Tatra deal only after Army chief General VK Singh brought to his notice as the party's Jabalpur MP had not only written to him but also raised the issue in the Lok Sabha on October 23, 2008. Antony must reveal under whose pressure orders were given for the Tatra trucks, he said.

Both released documents on how the Jabalpur factory of the Ordnance Board that had supplied more than 50,000 high mobility trucks to the Indian Army was taken for a ride after being told that only 6x6 vehicles and not 4x4 ones it had been supplying.

The vehicle factory jointly designed and developed the new truck in collaboration with Ashok Leyland and it was also approved for induction in 2000 but the final specifications were issued only in 2007 and then the order for a mix of 4x4 and 6x6 vehicles was placed on BEML-Tatra, majority of which were 4x4 trucks that the Army had decided not to procure any more.

Much to the chagrin of the vehicle factory that had invested large sum of money and resources in developing the 6x6 trucks as per specifications of the notification (CSQR 486), the technical specifications were changed to eliminate competition and place all orders to BEML-Tatra combine.

The BJP wants to know from Antony what happened to the government's policy of indigenisation and self-reliance in defence production and why the vehicles were being imported when the Indian companies and his own vehicle factory is ready to supply them in most cost-effective manner.

The Jabalpur MP's worry is that the basic existence of the Vehicle Factory is in jeopardy because of manipulations by Tatra as it will be left with no work for more than 4,500 people it employs. The defence minister promptly wrote back to him on May 30, 2008 that he is having the matter raised in his letter of May 12, 2008 looked into, but then there was a total silence until the Army chief's interview two weeks ago on Rs 14 crore bribe to approve the Tatra trucks brought the matter into focus.