Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday, 30 August launched a scathing attack on the Modi government over the Rafale deal, saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was “too scared to face the people” over the issue.
The Gandhi scion first took to Twitter at 12.12 pm to remind Finance Minister Arun Jaitley of the 24-hour deadline he had given on Wednesday, 29 August to form a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the issue.
Hours later at 9.10 pm, he tweeted again to take a jibe at PM Modi saying “I guess your boss refused to hold a Joint Parliamentary Committee on the GREAT RAFALE ROBBERY? Too much to hide, too scared to face the people, I suppose...”
On Wednesday, Gandhi had demanded that Arun Jaitley from a Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the “RAFALE ROBBERY”.
“Modi Lying Over Rafale”
On Wednesday, Gandhi launched a two-pronged offensive against Modi in a press conference on demonetisation and Rafale deal, terming them as huge scams which were committed to help his "crony capitalist friends".
In a no-holds-barred attack on Modi, the Congress chief alleged that the noteban "scam" was deliberately inflicted on common people by the PM who owes an answer to the country on why he did so, and demanded a JPC probe into the Rafale issue saying the country wants to know "what is the deal between the prime minister and businessman Anil Ambani".
He alleged that there was much to hide in the Rafale deal and that is why Modi was not inclined to go for a JPC.
On the Rafale issue, Gandhi alleged it is a "clear cut" case where Modi is "lying" and cited a joint statement made by the PM and French President Francois Hollande in 2015 where it was made clear that the aircraft and associated systems and weapons would be delivered on the "same configuration" as had been tested and approved by the Indian Air Force.
“The point is, it is written in the prime minister’s joint statement that the aircraft will have the same configuration. The prime minister is now saying something else,” he said.
"It is clearly written that the configuration is going to be of the same configuration. So the man is lying," he said while attacking the prime minister.
Industrialist Anil Ambani has denied the Congress charge that the government had a role in his Reliance group being chosen as an offset supplier and has accused the party of making "false statements". He has also written to Rahul Gandhi explaining the deal and slapped defamation notices on Congress leaders asking them not to make "false" statements.
Asked about the defamation notices by Ambani, Gandhi said, “You can slap as many defamation notices as you want, but the truth will remain the same”.
"Why did you buy an aircraft of Rs 520 crore at the price of Rs 1,600 crore? Who were you (Modi) trying to benefit?" Gandhi asked.
Gandhi also attacked Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, saying while he was blogging he had not said anything on the probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee.
Referring to his blog, Gandhi said Jaitley has asked some questions, but an option has been given to the prime minister through Jaitley that he is free to ask questions but before the joint parliamentary committee.
"Everything will be clear as to what happened in Rafale," he said.
"I have no problems and the Congress party has no objections, we all will agree. The 24-hour deadline is coming to an end and Arun Jaitley is writing long blogs but is not responding to my question. I think Arun Jaitley is caught in a fix, as the permission (for a JPC) is to be given by Narendra Modi. I hope Arun Jaitley has asked from the prime minister, hope he is not afraid of asking the prime minister," he said.
(With inputs from PTI)
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