Mallikarjun Kharge eyes suo moto PAC debate on Rafale

New Delhi: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Parliament headed by Congress MP Mallikarjun Kharge is preparing to take up suo moto discussion on the Rafale deal which would pave the way for summoning either the comptroller and auditor general (CAG) or the attorney general (AG), the Centre’s chief legal advisor, to seek details on the controversial matter.

Once the CAG or AG are summoned, the panel could seek details from them on the CAG report on Rafale deal, which is yet to be laid before Parliament, sources said.

In the 22-member PAC, the BJP is in majority with 12 MPs and there is one member each of its allies, Shiv Sena and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).

The Congress has three members in the panel, including Mr Kharge. There are two Trinamul Congress MPs and one member each of the TDP, the BJD and the AIADMK.

Mr Kharge could soon select the Rafale issue as part of the agenda for the committee’s meeting, sources said. Sources said that Mr Kharge, as PAC chairman, is well within his right to include Rafale deal in the agenda for suo moto discussion in the committee.

Mr Kharge’s push for debate on the jet deal comes close to Congress president Rahul Gandhi accusing the Narendra Modi government of “misleading” the Supreme Court by presenting wrong facts about the CAG report on the Rafale deal in its affidavit filed with the court. Mr Gandhi had questioned why the CAG report on the deal had not yet been shared with the PAC even though it was cited by the Supreme Court in its judgment last week. Soon after the judgment, the government had claimed that a wrong grammatical interpretation had led to confusion in the apex court judgment.