Rafale row: All rules followed, says govt
On the day the Congress escalated its attack on the government over a media report suggesting that a bureaucrat red-flagged the purchase of Rafale jets on account of price, the defence ministry clarified that the deal was negotiated through a process involving due deliberations and diligence at various levels.
“The officer in question from the ministry of defence headquarters had signed the note considered and approved by the cabinet committee on security (CCS) on August 24, 2016. Thereafter, he proceeded for a oneweek training programme in September 2016 and not on leave for which he had applied to the department of personnel and training (DoPT) in July 2016,” said an official familiar with the developments.
The Indian Express reported on Thursday that nearly a month before the deal for 36 Rafale aircraft was signed between then defence minister Manohar Parrikar and his French counterpart in New Delhi in September 2016, Rajiv Verma, joint secretary and acquisition manager (Air) in the defence ministry, then part of the contract negotiations committee (CNC), raised questions about the deal’s benchmark price and put his objections on record.
Speaking to a news channel, Verma on Thursday said he had not gone on leave in protest, and that his leave was for a planned training. The report further said the official’s objections were later “overruled” by the director general (acquisition) Smitha Nagaraj.
Satna: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday continued his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Rafale deal and said when the Congress comes to power, it will catch those involved in “corruption” in the deal and put them behind bars.
He also threw a challenge to Modi to answer the questions surrounding the deal.
Speaking at a public meeting in Satna, 486km northeast of state capital Bhopal, Gandhi said, “Jisne chori ki usko toh hum pakad ke dikhayenge, un par karyavahi karenge, andar karenge (those who have committed theft we will catch them, take action against, put them in jail)”.
Gandhi, who is on his second visit in a fortnight to poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, also promised that those behind the Vyapam and e-tendering scams in Madhya Pradesh would be caught by the next Congress government and put behind bars.
Vyapam is a multi-crore recruitment cum admission scam that has rocked the state for the past five years while the e-tendering scam, estimated to be of around $3000 cr, involves hacking the e-tender portal of the Madhya Pradesh government to allegedly benefit some companies.
Taking a dig at Modi’s ‘Maan Ki Baat’ monthly radio addresses, Gandhi said nowadays no one listened to his (PM’s) address as they have realised that it is “Jhooti Baat’ (lies).
Gandhi said that despite the hype over the BJP workers meet in Bhopal on September 25, there were empty chairs, and promised that when the Congress government comes to power in the state the chief minister will run the government according to the people’s ‘Maan Ki Baat’.
Hitting out at Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Gandhi said the chief minister claimed that Madhya Pradesh was number one.
“Yes it is number one, but in farmers’ suicide, corruption, unemployment, malnutrition and higher petrol and diesel prices,” Gandhi said. He said chief minister Chouhan and Modi had both lied to the youth of the country.
“Modi had promised two crore jobs every year, but that has not happened. Nowadays everything here is made in China. Even the statue of Sardar Patel in Gujarat is made in China,” Gandhi said amid cheers from the crowd.
BJP chief Amit Shah responded to Gandhi’s statement on the Sardar Patel statue.
“Dear @RahulGandhi, your family humiliated Sardar Patel, unsuccessfully tried to erase his legacy from the people’s hearts and minds. Your lies on the ‘Statue of Unity’ is another display of your visceral hatred towards Sardar Patel,” he tweeted.
Earlier, senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia said, “It is a time for change.”
He said the Madhya Pradesh elections which are due in November-December should not be seen merely as an assembly election, but as a harbinger of change that will propel Rahul Gandhi as prime minister in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
State Congress president Kamal Nath said instead of answering tough questions (Rafale deal), Modi was talking about nationalism. “The BJP has no freedom fighters in its ranks and it is trying to teach us nationalism”, he said.
Madhya Pradesh BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal criticised the Congress statements.
“Rahul Gandhi is pouring out his frustration in levelling baseless charges on Rafale. Defence deals are known for their sensitive nature associated with the country’s security. But the way Rahul Gandhi is speaking on the deal he is committing a sin.”
Gandhi took part in a 50km road show from Satna to Rewa during which he stopped and addressed several street corner meetings where he highlighted the failures of the Modi government and Chouhan government in Madhya Pradesh.