Rafale deal: Political slugfest continues

New Delhi: The Congress on Friday said the Supreme Court has vindicated its stand that “corruption” in the Rafale fighter jet deal cannot be decided by it and challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the deal.

Referring to both the Congress and the BJP as “ek hi thali ke chatte batte (birds of a feather),” BSP supremo Mayawati called for fundamental reforms in all defence related procurements in order to address the doubts and common perception over such issues.

In a statement, Ms Mayawati said the SC verdict would be some relief for the central government but there was a need for basic changes at the level of the government in matters of defence-related deals.

Asserting that allegations of corruption have been levelled against both the Congress and the BJP in defence deals raising doubts of the public, she said that both the parties are alike as Congress government had faced the allegations in Bofors and BJP government in the Rafale deal.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the Congress had stated earlier that the Rafale issue cannot be decided by the Supreme Court, and the alleged corruption in the defence contract can only be brought out by a Joint Parliamentary Committee  after examining the files and notings in the contract.

Taking on Congress president Rahul Gandhi over the Rafale issue, Union home minister Rajnath Singh said the Congress leader tried to mislead people on Rafale deal for political benefit and maligned India’s image globally.

Mr Singh said that the Congress president should apologise to the people of the country.

Welcoming the apex court’s order, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath demanded an unconditional apology from the Congress for spreading “false propaganda” against the BJP and the central government. “The false propaganda of the Congress has come to the fore with the verdict of the apex court,”he said.