New Delhi | Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday launched a series of attack over the Narendra Modi government during a debate in Lok Sabha over the Indo-France Rafale deal.
Speaking over the Rafale issue, Rahul Gandhi questioned, “The first pillar is process, second is pricing and the third and most interesting is patronage. Senior officers of the IAF chose Rafale after long negotiations, IAF wanted 126 aircraft, why was the demand changed to 36?”
Taking a dig at the Prime Minister over the Rafale scam Gandhi said, “Prime Minister in an interview said that no one is accusing him personally on Rafale. The entire nation is asking a direct question to the PM”. Continuing his attack on Prime Minister Gandhi alleged, “Last time PM listened to my speech and gave a long speech later, where he didn’t talk for even 5 minutes on Rafale”.” He doesn’t have guts to come to Parliament to confront, Defence Min hides behind AIADMK MPs and PM hides in his room,” he added.
R Gandhi: There are no. of holes in Rafale story. Last time PM listened to my speech & gave a long speech later, where he didn’t talk for even 5 minutes on Rafale. He doesn’t have guts to come to Parliament to confront, Defence Min hides behind AIADMK MPs and PM hides in his room pic.twitter.com/qvGgqlPoxW
— ANI (@ANI) January 2, 2019
Demanding a formation of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Rafale issue, Gandhi said, “The Supreme Court verdict stated that probing Rafale scam does not come under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, but they never said that JPC shouldn’t be formed.”
Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha: The Supreme Court verdict stated that probing Rafale scam does not come under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, but they never said that JPC shouldn’t be formed. pic.twitter.com/IFYmyquQQP
— ANI (@ANI) January 2, 2019
Later the Congress President asked the Speaker to allow him to play the audio clip released by the Congress party earlier claiming Goa Minister Rane saying ‘Manohar Parrikar has secrets of Rafale deal under his bed’ but then refuses to play it. The demand was opposed by the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and after uproar, Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan denying the demand had adjourned the house till 2.30 pm.
Earlier the Supreme Court on December 14 rejecting a probe in the Indo France Rafale deal said there is no occasion to doubt the decision-making process in the multi-billion dollar Rafale fighter jet deal with France. A bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, said there has been the necessity of fighter aircraft and the country cannot remain without fighter jets.
India signed an agreement with France for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft in a fly-away condition as part of the upgrading process of Indian Air Force equipment. The estimated cost of the deal is Rs 58,000 crore. The Rafale fighter is a twin-engine Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) manufactured by French aerospace company Dassault Aviation.
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