FEAR OF VERMA PROBING RAFALE BEHIND SUDDEN OUSTER: RAHUL
NEW DELHI: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said the main reason for the ‘removal’ of Central Bureau of India (CBI) director Alok Verma was that the agency was going to begin a probe into the “role of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Rafale scam” and the alleged corruption in the fighter aircraft deal.
Union human resource development (HRD) minister Prakash Javadekar termed this a “lie” and said there “is no inquiry” by CBI into the Rafale deal. Gandhi’s reference could be to a complaint given to Alok Verma (who has now been divested of powers) on October 4 by lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan and former Union minister Arun Shourie.
“The complaint was marked by Verma to the Anti-Corruption Headquarters branch that was functioning under joint director Arun Kumar Sharma till Wednesday. The branch was verifying the contents of the complaint to see whether it even warrants a preliminary enquiry,” said a government official familiar with the development.
Addressing a news conference at the party headquarters in Delhi soon after his return from a two-day election campaign in Rajasthan, Gandhi said Verma was “removed in panic” because he was going to begin a probe into the Rafale deal.
“And that would have been suicidal for Modi,” said Gandhi.
He was flanked by senior leaders Ashok Gehlot, Ahmed Patel, Mallikarjun Kharge, Randeep Singh Surjewala and Anand Sharma. The Congress president later announced that he would lead a protest march outside the CBI headquarters at 11am on Friday. The march is part of a protest by Congress workers outside CBI offices across India.
The internal feud in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which saw the government, through the Central Vigilance Commission, effectively divesting both Verma and the agency’s special director Rakesh Asthana of their responsibilities, has given fresh ammunition to the main Opposition party to step up its attack on the Prime Minister and his government as it sought to link the developments in the agency to the Rafale jet deal.
The Congress claims the Modi government scrapped an United Progressive Alliance (UPA)-era deal with Dassault Aviation for 126 Rafale Aircraft, and instead bought 36 of the same aircraft in a government-to-government deal with France. According to it, the NDA government paid more for each aircraft and also scrapped the assembly part of the deal (state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd was to assemble 108 of the aircraft). It alleges that this was done with the idea of benefitting Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence, which subsequently formed a joint venture with Dassault to benefit from the French company’s offset obligations. The government contends the two deals aren’t comparable because the Rafales acquired are customised in terms of capabilities and weaponry, that the earlier deal would have never been signed because HAL couldn’t have met the cost- and time-requirements, and that Dassault chooses its own offset partners. Reliance Defence and the French government have also said the same.
On Thursday, Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier told CNBC TV18 in an interview that it was the company’s choice to pick Reliance as a partner and that the Indian government had no role in this. At an event in Mumbai, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that there would be more offset partners and that her ministry would get to know about these when Dassault filed details of its offset obligations.
Gandhi also questioned the legality of Verma’s removal.
“His removal is an insult to the Constitution, the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of Opposition. The move is illegal, criminal and unconstitutional” the Congress chief added, referring to the two other members of the committee, other than the Prime Minister, that selects the CBI chief.
Gandhi said the “fight” is on to reinstate Verma.
The central leadership of the Congress has asked all its state units to agitate in front of CBI offices across the country on Friday, protest the “undemocratic, unconstitutional and dictatorial act of the Modi government to remove” Verma, and demand his immediate reinstatement.
Gandhi also attacked Modi for his “silence” on the issue. “You have to notice throughout all this, the Prime Minister has not said a single word,” he said.
Gandhi also accused Modi of destroying CBI and attacked him over the appointment of M Nageshwar Rao as the interim CBI chief. “He (Rao) is facing several charges. He has appointed a person who can be controlled by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister does not want an inquiry into Rafale that is why he has got a vulnerable officer who will do what the Prime Minister wants him to do to hide the facts,” the Gandhi alleged.
The BJP said the government does not interfere in the working of any agencies, be it ED, CBI or IB. Javadekar said the government action against the CBI officials is an “extraordinary solution to an extraordinary situation.” “These are independent agencies, we preserve their independence, we don’t interfere in their routine investigation and government is committed to weeding out corruption from all walks of life,” he said. The BJP leader said the Congress was “manufacturing” untruths about the government as it has “lost all hopes to become relevant”. “Rahul Gandhi is manufacturing lies on Rafale; today he came out with a new falsehood that the CBI director was removed. This, when the CBI chief and the number two (in CBI) have been sent on leave. The second lie that Gandhi said is that he was sent on leave because he was inquiring about the Rafale deal; there is no case of inquiry,” Javadekar said.