New Delhi, April 9: The BJP today alleged inaction by A.K. Antony in the Tatra truck deal, saying one of its MPs alerted the defence minister on possible irregularities in 2008.

The party demanded an explanation from the Prime Minister and said the Centre should order a court-monitored inquiry into Antony’s failure to order a probe after receiving BJP MP Rakesh Singh’s letter, dated May 12, 2008.

BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar demanded that Antony be sacked. “What prompted Antony’s inaction?” he asked. Javadekar also insinuated that procurement requirements were changed to favour the purchase of Tatra trucks by the army. “The government should order an inquiry to investigate under whose pressure, at whose behest were procurement requirements for the purchase of Tatra trucks amended,” he said.

Singh wrote to Antony a year before Congress leader D. Hanumanthappa’s wrote to Ghulam Nabi Azad in October 2009 on the Tatra trucks, though the charges he made were different.

On March 30 this year, the Centre said the defence minister had ordered a probe into the deal after getting Hanumanthappa’s letter. The Centre said Antony had ordered the probe in February this year.

The BJP MP from Jabalpur said he wrote to Antony on the gap in the cost of Tatra trucks and those manufactured by the Ordnance Factory Board in Jabalpur. “I pointed out that the 4x4 Tatra trucks were being purchased at Rs 65 lakh each when the Jabalpur factory was manufacturing more advanced 6x6 trucks for Rs 30 lakh,” Singh said.

According to the BJP MP, Antony wrote: “I am having the matter looked into.”

Singh said despite Antony’s assurance, the army purchased the Tatra vehicles.