Baripada (Odisha): PM Narendra Modi, during his visit to Odisha, on Saturday praised Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for her skilful response in Lok Sabha on the Rafale issue on Friday and accused the Congress of “playing” with national security and working at the behest of middlemen in the defence sector, instead of running a government for the people during the UPA rule. “I cannot understand whether the Congress was running a government or the durbar of its own (Christian) Michel mama,” he said at a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rally here, referring to the alleged middleman in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam, Christian Michel, who has recently been brought to India from Dubai.
Mounting a scathing attack on the Congress after a showdown between the government and the Opposition in Parliament over the Rafale deal, Modi alleged that there was a conspiracy to weaken the country’s defence forces during 2004-2014 (the period of the UPA rule) and the revelation of facts was now “paining” the opposition party’s leaders. “Therefore, they want to remove the chowkidar (watchman) from their path at any cost. Be it the society or factories, thieves always conspire to remove the chowkidar to make their task easy. As long as the chowkidar remains, they are unable to operate,” he said, apparently slamming Congress chief Rahul Gandhi for his “chowkidar” barb at him.