Rahul Gandhi at the press meet in Delhi Thursday. (Express photo by Anil Sharma)Congress president Rahul Gandhi Thursday alleged that parallel negotiations held by the PMO delayed delivery of the Rafale aircraft, and asked why a probe should not be ordered against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Rahul’s attack came a day after the government told the Supreme Court that documents related to Rafale deal were “stolen” from the Defence Ministry and spoke about initiating criminal action against two publications which ran reports on the basis of these documents, and a lawyer.
Rahul said the government can initiate any legal action it wants. “But justice should be for all… if the documents have indeed gone missing, that means the documents are authentic…And it is written clearly in those documents that Narendra Modi had held parallel negotiations. And it is clearly written that price was escalated…take action on (the stolen) documents…but action should also be taken against those whose names are there in the documents,” he told reporters.
He said it was Modi’s parallel negotiations which “retarded” the Rafale delivery schedule.
Hitting back at the Prime Minister’s charge that some Opposition leaders have become poster boys of Pakistan, he said, “Did we go to Nawaz Sharif? Did we invite them to Pathankot? Prime Minister had got ISI to investigate Pathankot. Prime Minister is going to Mr Nawaz Sharif’s (family) wedding and we are the poster boys. He is the poster boy of Pakistan, hugging Mr Nawaz Sharif, calling Mr Nawaz Sharif to his swearing-in over here doing a big drama.”
