Congress Escalates Attack on BJP Over Rafale Deal, Calls PM Modi ‘Commander-in-thief’, Moves CVC For Probe

The Rafale controversy took a turn last week following former French president Francois Hollande revelation.

New Delhi: The Congress party on Monday escalated its attack on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the Rafale aircraft deal by calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi “commander-in-thief” and the country’s “chowkidar” (watchman) who had committed “chori” (theft). “The country’s watchman indulged in theft,” said Gandhi, adding the “watchman” took out Rs 30,000 crore from the pockets of soldiers and martyrs and gave it to an industrialist.

Gandhi scion, in his Lok Sabha constituency Amethi, launched a scathing attack on Modi. “Modi ji has to clarify why is he (Hollande) calling him a thief”. “The main issue is that the former France President has called Indian Prime Minister a ‘thief’, and Narendra Modi has to clarify on it,” he said.

“Modi ji ne HAL se contract chheen kar Anil Ambani ko de diya. Zindagi mein unhone aircraft nahi banaya. Humare jawan apni zindagi dete hain, Modi ji ne unki jeb se paisa chorri karke Anil Ambani ke jeb mein daal diya (Modi ji snatched the Rafale contract from HAL and gave it to Anil Ambani. Ambani’s company hasn’t made a single aircraft in life. Our soldiers give their lives at the borders but Modi ji snatched the money from their pockets to fill the pockets of Ambani)” Gandhi said.

“I raised it (Rafale issue) in Parliament and Modi could not make eye-to-eye contact. Why did you purchase the fighter jets at three times the price? “Modi can speak about everything but not Rafale. He does not have the guts,” he said, questioning Modi’s persisted silence on the issue despite repeated charges against him.

Earlier in the day, a Congress delegation filed a petition to Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) KV Chowdary seeking a probe into the “corruption” in the deal. The move to the CVC was followed by the Congress approaching the Comptroller and Auditor General of India for a special and forensic audit. It also comes amidst an intense political dogfight between the Congress and the BJP-led government over the deal. (Also Read: Rahul Charges PM Modi With ‘Theft’ to Benefit Ambani in Rafale Deal)

Demanding Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Rafale deal controversy, the Congress leader said, “Arun Jaitley keep repeating ‘truth, truth, truth’, all the truth will come out once there is a JPC probe.” (ALSO READ: Rafale Row: Congress Running a Smear Campaign Against BJP, Will Fight The Perception Battle, Says Sitharaman)

The Congress also targeted Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman saying the insistence on non-disclosure of the purchase price of the jets “reeks of a huge scam”. Responding to the allegations, Sitharaman said, “This is a perception battle. We will fight this battle. We’ll go to places and state facts on record on Rafale. Congress designs to run a smear campaign against us at an international level.”

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday suggested a link between a tweet by Gandhi on Rafale and Hollande’s subsequent revelation and sought to discredit the former French president by citing conflicting media reports about his claims. The Congress took strong umbrage to Jaitley’s assertions that the “CAG would study the pricing and take a view on whether the NDA government’s deal was better than the one UPA was negotiating”.

The Rafale controversy took a turn last week after former French president Francois Hollande claimed that the Indian government proposed Reliance Defence’s name as the offset partner for Dassault Aviation. The Reliance group, however, rejected charges leveled against it by the Congress and said the government was in no way involved in securing its offset contract with Dassault Aviation.