BJP says 'gross contempt of court' after Rahul Gandhi claims SC has 'accepted' corruption in Rafale deal

AMETHI/NEW DELHI: The BJP on Wednesday slammed Rahul Gandhi after the Congress president, reacting to the SC nod on admissibility of "leaked documents" in the Rafale case, claimed that the top court has made it “clear” that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had “committed a theft”.

Addressing a press conference, senior party leader and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, "The Congress president probably doesn't read even half a paragraph of the court's order, but here, by saying that the court has has said 'chowkidaar chor hai', it is verging on contempt of court."

The president of a party which has been in power for so many years has shown his frustration by attributing words to the apex which were not uttered, she said.

The minister added that the court order was limited to whether it should consider the documents the government said were illegally obtained by petitioners.

Rahul Gandhi has crossed the line of decency in his comments on the court, she said, adding that he is repeatedly misleading people on the Rafale fighter jet deal.

Earlier today, reacting to the SC verdict after filing his nomination papers in Amethi, Rahul Gandhi said “Now the SC has made it clear that 'chowkidarji' (watchman) has committed a theft.”

He claimed the apex court has “accepted that there is some corruption in Rafale”.

The apex court, which had earlier cleared the Modi government of accusations of corruption over the Rafale deal, on Tuesday said it will hear a review petition on the basis of the new documents, referred to by the petitioners.

But Rahul Gandhi appeared to interpret the order as an “acceptance” by the Supreme Court that there was corruption in the deal on the French aircraft.

"I am happy and I have been saying so for months that Hindustan's PM has given the air force money to (industrialist) Anil Ambani, and the SC has accepted it. The SC is going to investigate it," he said.

“I want to directly challenge that the SC has said that you have indulged in corruption,” he said.

Rahul Gandhi then challenged Modi to a debate on the Rafale military aircraft deal, which the Congress claims involved corruption, a charge repeatedly rejected by the government.