Cong raises questions at Rafale deal again

The Congress held a string of Press conferences by its senior leaders across the State on the issue of the Rafale fighter jet deal on Sunday. The Congress leaders alleged that a major scam had been orchestrated in the deal which the Central Government was trying to conceal despite the opposition consistently raising the issue.

Addressing the media at the Congress Bhawan in Dehradun, the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee president Pritam Singh said that the Rafale deal entailed a scam of more than Rs 44,000 crore. The Congress will undertake an agitation on the issue across the State.

Singh said that during the parliamentary elections, the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that after forming the Government, he would eradicate corruption. Modi had said that he would neither indulge in corruption himself nor allow anyone else to do so. However, the situation now appears to contradict the promises made at that time, said the PCC chief. He said that the Congress had raised this issue in the parliament and also in the public. However, the Government has not provided a satisfactory reply to the queries raised by the Congress on this issue. The Prime Minister should end his silence on the Rafale scam, said the PCC chief.

In Haldwani, the leader of opposition and local MLA Indira Hridayesh also lambasted the Central Government accusing it of orchestrating a major scam in the Rafale deal. She alleged that the centre had orchestrated a scam and also provided undue benefit to industrialist Anil Ambani’s company. Questioning various aspects of the deal, she said that the PM who talks often of eradicating corruption, should inform the public about the questionable aspects of the Rafale deal.

Rejecting the allegations levelled by Congress regarding the Rafale deal, the Bharatiya Janata Party State president Ajay Bhatt accused the Congress of spreading lies to misinform the public. He said that the issue had been clarified in the parliament and the French Government had also contradicted the false statement made by Congress national president Rahul Gandhi. Raising the issue again even after so much shows that the Congress has lost its balance and is focusing simply on orchestrating its conspiracy to malign the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Talking to media persons at the BJP State head office, Bhatt said that it was wrong of the Congress to state that the present Government at the Centre had made the deal at a higher cost. In the absence of any middlemen, due to the efforts and suggestions of the PM, this deal was finalised directly between the governments of India and France.

After the explanation given by the Union Defence minister in the parliament and the statement of the French Government, this issue should have been laid to rest. But by raising this issue again, the Congress has shown that it is confused and attempting to misinform the public, added Bhatt.