New Delhi: The Congress on Friday said the Supreme Court has vindicated its stand that “corruption” in the Rafale fighter jet deal cannot be decided by it and challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the deal.
Referring to both the Congress and the BJP as “ek hi thali ke chatte batte (birds of a feather)”, BSP supremo Mayawati called for fundamental reforms in all defence related procurements in order to address the doubts and common perception over such issues. In a statement, Ms Mayawati said the Supreme Court’s verdict would bring some relief for the Central government but there was a need for basic changes at the level of the government in matters of defence-related deals.
Asserting that allegations of corruption have been levelled against both the Congress and the BJP in defence deals raising doubts of the public, she said that both the parties are alike as Congress government had faced the allegations in Bofors and BJP government in the Rafale deal.
Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the Congress had stated earlier that the Rafale issue cannot be decided by the Supreme Court, and the alleged corruption in the defence contract can only be brought out by a JPC after examining the files and notings in the contract.
Taking on Congress president Rahul Gandhi over the Rafale issue, Union home minister Rajnath Singh said the Congress leader tried to mislead people on Rafale deal for political benefit and maligned India’s image globally. Mr Singh said that the Congress president should apologise to the people of the country.
Union minister of road transport Nitin Gadkari echoed the views of his Cabinet colleague Meanwhile, notwiths-tanding the Supreme Court’s verdict on the Rafale deal, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday maintained that there was massive corruption in the contract and wondered why the CAG report “cited by the Supreme Court” on Rafale deal had not yet been shared with the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament.
Welcoming the apex court's order, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath demanded an unconditional apology from the Congress president for spreading “false propaganda”.
