Rafale deal: S Jaipal Reddy wants Arun Jaitley, Nirmala Sitharaman to quit
Hyderabad: Former Union minister and AICC spokesperson S. Jaipal Reddy demanded the resignation of defen-ce minister Nirmala Sitharaman and finance minister Arun Jaitley for lying in the Parliament on the Rafale issue. He alleged that Anil Ambani was a broker for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Speaking to the media on Saturday at Hyderabad, Mr Jaipal Reddy said that the statement of Mr Hollande had proved that the Congress allegations on the Rafale scam were correct .
He asked the BJP what it would say for the comments made by Mr Hollande that they had accepted the Rafale deal due to pressure from the Modi government. He said that Union ministers Ms Nirmala Sitharaman and Mr Arun Jaitley had lied in the Parliament and they should resign for telling lies to the nation. Mr Jaipal Reddy said that the downfall of PM Modi had started. He said that it was the first time that an Indian deal was condemned by the government of another country. He said that the Rafale agreement was signed without the knowledge of the then defence minister Manohar Parrikar and this was said by him also.
Questioning how the Prime Minister could directly conclude an agreement on the Rafale deal, Mr Jaipal Reddy alleged that the Rafale scam was the biggest scam in Indian history. He alleged that with the Rafale deal Mr Ambani would benefit one lakh crore rupees in four years. He said that at the time of signing the deal worth lakhs of crores, no minister was with Prime Minister Narendra Modi but Ambani was present. He alleged that the PM was not opening his mouth on the deal fearing the truth would come out and that he was sending the money to his crony capitalist friends.
Mr Jaipal Reddy asked, if the figures stated by the Congress were wrong, then why was the PM not revealing the correct figures. He stated that Mr Arun Jaitley was loyal to PM Modi but not to the nation. He said that the Congress argument was that the Rafale deal should be transparent and and asked why the deal was denied to the public sector company Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and given to Ambani.
