Rahul Gandhi brought immoral equivalence between Rafale\, Bofors: Jaitley

Rahul Gandhi brought immoral equivalence between Rafale, Bofors: Jaitley

ANI  |  New Delhi [India] 

Union minister Jaitley on Sunday alleged that was trying to bring an "immoral equivalence" between the fighter jet deal and Bofors scam.

Continuing his tirade against the president, he asserted, "As a political opponent Rahul Gandhi's opposition to the deal was a desperate attempt. It was the which had shortlisted the Rafale as it was technically the best and the cheapest. PM Modi in an Inter-Governmental agreement struck a deal with the to further improve the terms and conditions including the prices on which the UPA had agreed."

Jaitley further claimed that the judgement of the has been delivered after noting that procedural compliances have been done.

"The judgement of the notes with satisfaction that procedural compliances have been done and the charges on the same are misconceived," he said.

The Minister's post comes two days after the refused to intervene in the Rafale fighter deal, saying there is "no occasion to really doubt the process", delivering a major victory to the government and lending a setback to the which has been alleging corruption in the agreement.

However, the union government on Saturday moved an application seeking a correction in the order to make it clear that the pricing aspect, examined by the of (CAG), has not been looked into by Parliament's (PAC) as yet.

Elaborating upon the ambiguity of CAG, Jaitley said, "Defence transactions go to the CAG for an audit review. CAG recommendations go to Parliament and are referred to the (PAC) whose reports are then placed before the Parliament. This was factually and accurately stated by the Government before the Court. The audit review of Rafale is pending before the CAG. All facts are shared with it. When its report is out, it will go to the PAC. Notwithstanding this factually correct statement made, if an ambiguity has emerged in the Court Order, the correct course is for anyone to apply / mention before the Court and have it corrected. The past practice is that if in a factual narration anything needs to be corrected, any litigant can move to the Court for the same. This has been done. It must now be left to the wisdom of the Court to state at which stage is pending. is not relevant to the final findings on procedure, pricing and offset suppliers. But bad losers never accept the truth. Having failed in multiple lies they have now started an innuendo about the Judgement. Having failed in their initial falsehood, the Congress is now manufacturing further lies about the Judgement."

Concluding his detailed description about the "lies of Congress," Jaitley expressed that he is "certain" that the party will prefer disruptions over discussions.

"I am certain that the will prefer disruptions over discussion on Rafale during the current session of Parliament. On facts it lied. The judgement of the Supreme Court conclusively establishes the Congress Party's vulnerabilities in a discussion on defence transactions. It will be a great opportunity to remind the nation of the legacy of the and its defence acquisitions - a great opportunity indeed for some of us to speak," he concluded.

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First Published: Sun, December 16 2018. 19:37 IST