Congress attacks PM Modi over Rafale, says set procedures were not followed

The Congress said that if it comes to power post 2019 Lok Sabha polls, their government will order a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe in to the matter.

‘’In the light of the available documentary evidence, it is crystal clear that set procedures have not been followed in the Rafale Deal and ‘Crony Capitalism’ has become the backbone of this scam. Therefore, A JPC Investigation is the only possible solution to ascertain the real culprits.

After May 23, when Congress will come to power, we shall order a JPC probe into the Rafale Scam,’’ Congress spokepserosn Abhishek manu Singhvi told reporters here.

He accused the Prime Minister Narendra Modi led government of indulging in falsehood , deceit and fakehood in their defence that was put in front of the Supreme Court by them in the Rafale matter heard on Wednesday.

Singhvi said that the government tried to hide three important documents from the apex court that include, the document which advised PMO not to conduct parallel negotiations on Rafale deal as it undermines Indian Negotiation Team, the document that questioned placing the issue of waiver of Sovereign Guarantee and Arbiteration be placed under Cabinet Committee for Security instead of Defence Acquisition Council and the Dissent Note of the Indian Negotiating Team (INT) of June 1, 2016, which records objections of three members of the Indian Negotiating Team on various aspects of the deal.

Charging the Modi Government of hiding the documents from the court, the Congress said that such attitude of the government raises questions whether as to why was PM Modi holding parallel negotiations undermining India’s interests, why to bypass the Indian Negotiation Team to waive off the condition of Sovereign Guarantee or a Bank Guarantee , the Congrtess questioned.

Sanghvi further said that On March 7 2019, Attorney-General told the Supreme Court those “secret” documents published by a newspaper and some magazines on the purchase of 36 Rafale jets were “stolen” from the Ministry of Defence, adding that on the very next day, in a bizarre move the government claimed that these ‘published’ documents were only “photocopies”.
After Wednesday's Supreme Court judgement- both these assertions are conclusively punctured, said the Congress leader.

The Congress also questioned as to why was NSA negotiating the Rafale Deal, and not the ‘Negotiations Committee’ of IAF and the Defence Ministry.

‘’Did the PM Modi ask him to do so and for what reason,’he said.