Sonia addresses Left concerns on Bofors

Congress has sought to address the Left concerns in the wake of the latest controversy in the Bofors case, with Sonia Gandhi [ Images ] telling them that the party-led coalition had no knowledge about the Central Bureau of Investigation decision to allow defreezing of Ottavio Quattrocchi's [ Images ] London [ Images ] bank accounts.

Asserting that the government was not pressurising any investigating agency, the United progressive Alliance [ Images ] chairperson told Communist Party of India-Marxist Politbureau member Sitaram Yechury [ Images ] that the Bofors case, which was dragging on for the past 20 years, should reach a conclusion soon, sources said.

Complete coverage: Bofors, the smoking gun

Gandhi's clarification came in the wake of the CPI-M [ Images ] General Secretary Prakash Karat [ Images ] and RSP leader Abani Roy asking the government to explain why the decision to defreeze the Quattrocchi accounts was taken.

At an hour-long meeting Tuesday, Yechury told Gandhi that the Left parties would go ahead with their decision to protest the proposed visit of US President George Bush [ Images ]. The two leaders also discussed the phone tapping episode involving Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh [ Images ], with Gandhi telling the CPI-M leader that Congress would continue to support the Mulayam Singh government in Uttar Pradesh [ Images ].