Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Mullappally Ramachandran has said that the controversial Rafale deal is just one of the many instances which have proved that the Narendra Modi-led Central government would go to any length to serve corporate interests at the expense of the country and its public sector companies.
He was addressing a dharna organised by the Congress in front of the Raj Bhavan on Monday in protest against the Rafale fighter aircraft deal and the rise in petroleum prices.
Mr. Ramachandran said that the former Defence Minister A.K. Antony had made all possible efforts to ensure that public sector undertaking Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) obtained licence to manufacture 108 fighter jets while purchasing 126 Rafale aircraft.
The HAL had also signed a ₹36,000 crore offset contract with Dassault Aviation. “However, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government backed off the agreement, citing the HAL was incapable of manufacturing the fighter jets. Instead, the Prime Minister decided to purchase 36 Rafale aircraft at thrice the price that had been finalised earlier. Besides the loss incurred by the country, the agreement will not serve to plug the inadequacies in the defence sector,” he said.
PM flayed
Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of undermining public trust by failing to fulfil the various promises that had been made while coming into power.
“Some of his many promises included the disbursement of ₹15 lakh in each bank account, the generation of ₹2 crore every year and steps to bring down the rate of petrol to ₹50 per litre. Not only has he gone back on his promises, the Prime Minister has been working against the interests of the common people to serve the corporate giants. His actions have fetched him the tag of a crook, while he has been claiming to be the watchman of the nation,” Mr. Chennithala said.
He also alleged that the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had been “following in the Prime Minister’s footsteps by functioning as both an autocrat and a corrupt leader”. With the government finding itself in a fix over the brewery allocation controversy, the CPI (M) leadership had been left with no option but to distance itself, Mr. Chennithala claimed.
Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Oommen Chandy alleged that the silence maintained by the Prime Minister, who had been facing a barrage of allegations, could be seen as an admission of his guilt in the controversy. Despite the fact that the ruling coalition would have a majority in a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) formed to probe the deal, the reluctance shown by the NDA government was borne out of fear that the aspects of the deal would be publicised, he alleged.
All India Congress Committee general secretary K.C. Venugopal, MP, CWC member P.C. Chacko, former Rajya Sabha deputy chairman P.J. Kurien, KPCC working presidents K. Sudhakaran, M.I. Shanavas, Kodikunnil Suresh, MP, campaign wing leader K. Muraleedharan, MLA, UDF convener Benny Behanan, former KPCC presidents M.M. Hassan and Thennala Balakrishna Pillai were also present on the occasion.