The delegation of Senior Congress Leaders after meeting with Central Vigilance Commissioner on Monday. (Express Photo by Praveen Jain)
Days after meeting the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), a delegation of senior Congress leaders Monday met the Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) demanding the registration of a case and subsequent probe in the alleged corruption in Rafale deal.
The delegation met CVC K V Chowdary and demanded that the government provide “full information of the deal, its contours, nature of the contract, the price of the aircrafts” to the vigilance body.
In a memorandum submitted to the CVC, the Congress accused the government of causing loss to the public exchequer and endangering national security by bypassing state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in favour of some businessman “friends” for offset contract.
“The deliberate enrichment of a private entity, ‘Reliance Defence’, at the cost of HAL, by award of a Rs 30,000 Cr ‘Offset Contract’, as also Rs 1,00,000 Cr ‘Life Cycle Contract’ without any tender and without following any mandatory requirement of the ‘Defence Procurement Procedure’ itself tells a story of stark ‘Crony Capitalism’ that needs to be investigated.”
Senior Congress leaders including Gulam Nabi Azad, Jairam Ramesh and Randeep Surjewala after meeting the CVC. (Express Photo by Praveen Jain)
In 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a new deal with France and said India would be getting 36 Rafale aircraft instead of the 126 planes planned earlier. In the new agreement, instead of building the jets with state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, the aircraft would be imported into India.
“The denial of ‘Make in India’ as also ‘Transfer of Technology’ to the PSU, HAL is intriguing and reeks of a concerted conspiracy,” the Congress said in its memorandum.
“The nearly 300% cost increase in the price of Rafale aircraft smacks of not only causing loss to the public exchequer in a malicious manner, but the acts of such omission and commission need to be investigated thoroughly,” the memorandum said.
The party also alleged that the number of aircraft was reduced without consulting the Indian Air Force.
“The stench of corruption and cronyism in the Rafale Deal is nauseating, requiring urgent intervention by your good self,” the memorandum from Congress leaders said.
The delegation from the party was comprised of Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ahmed Patel, Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Jairam Ramesh, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Manish Tewari, Vivek Tankha, Pramod Tiwari and Pranav Jha.
The controversy over the purchase of the jets took a fresh 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.
Calling PM Modi a “thief”, Gandhi accused him of “personally delivering a deal worth billions of dollars to a bankrupt Anil Ambani” and that he has “betrayed India and has dishonoured the blood of our soldiers.”
Both the French government and Dassault Aviation have clarified in their respective statements that the pact for offset clause between Dassault and Reliance Defence was a private agreement between two companies, and neither government was involved in it.
The BJP has also denied any wrongdoing in the deal. Union Minister Arun Jaitley hinted at a collusion between Gandhi and Hollande, saying it was “no coincidence” that Hollande’s statement came days after Congress chief’s cryptic tweet on Rafale deal.
“Yeh jo jugalbandihai, mere paas sabot nahin hai, lekin mann mein prashn khada hota hai. (I don’t have evidence to back this but this apparent duet (between Rahul Gandhi and Francois Hollande), does raise a question),” he said.