War Of Words Between Congress, BJP Over Rafale Deal

The development in the the Rs. 59,000 crore Rafale Fighter jet deal with India issue has led to a war of words between the Congress and the Bhartiya Janata Party.

In order to lead a very sensitive judicial investigation into the alleged 'corruption and favouritism' in the Rs. 59,000 crore Rafale Fighter jet deal with India, a French judge has been appointed, said report.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been urged to come forward and order a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Rafale deal by Congress Chief Spokesperson Randeep Surjewala.

He said in a press conference, "corruption in the Rafale deal has come out clearly now. The stand of the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi has been vindicated today after the French government has ordered a probe."

Reacting sharply to the demand of the Congress Party, BJP leader Sambit Patra said, "Congress is synonymous with lies and myths. Today they lied about Rafale deal, again. If a country's (France) NGO (Sherpa) complains against a charge and its financial prosecution body orders a probe accordingly, it should not be seen as corruption."

The BJP leader further added, "the way Rahul Gandhi is behaving, it will not be an exaggeration to say that he is being used as a pawn by competing companies. He has been lying right from the beginning on the issue. Probably, he is acting as an agent or some member of Gandhi family has been for a competing company."

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He also alleged that as the Gandhi family had received no commission in the Rafale deal and its party had been levelling these allegations.

However, the probe into the inter-governmental deal signed in 2016 was formally opened on June 14, said reports.

On the latest development in the concerning controversial deal, the Mediapart has reported, "A judicial probe into suspected corruption has been opened in France over the 7.8-billion-euro sale to India in 2016 of 36 Dassault-built Rafale fighter aircraft."

The investigation has been initiated by the national financial prosecutors' office (PNF), it stated.

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government had inked a Rs 59,000-crore deal on September 23, 2016, for the Indian Air Force to procure 36 Rafale jets from French aerospace major Dassault Aviation after a nearly seven-year exercise to procure 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) as it did not fructify during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime.

According to reports, the Congress accused the government of massive irregularities in the deal, alleging that it was procuring each aircraft at a cost of over Rs 1,670 crore as against Rs 526 crore finalised by the UPA government during the negotiations for the MMRCA.

The Congress raised several questions about the deal and alleged corruption but the government rejected all the charges, prior to the Lok Sabha elections in 2019.

The Congress demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Rafale Deal, on Saturday.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said, "The scandalous expose of Rafale scam involving corruption, treason, loss to public exchequer has finally been uncovered," which addressing a virtual press conference.

He questioned, "If the role of former French President Francois Hollande and current President Emmanuel Macron is being investigated, then why not Indian former defence minister and an Indian company can also be investigated?"

He also stated that the media outlet in France has revealed the deal between Dassault and an Indian company which constituted a joint venture.

"This substantiates the statement made by then President Francois Hollande, who said that the decision to appoint an Indian company as Dassault's industrial partner was of the Indian government, meaning the Modi government. And the French had no choice into the matter," he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed a deal worth 7.8 billion euro to buy 36 Rafale jets in place of 126 fighter jets, informed Surjewala.

He further added that the French government deleted the anti-corruption clause.

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