PM didn’t follow norms: Rahul
CRYING FOUL Congress chief says Modi was scared of CBI probing Rafale deal and removed its director without following procedures
On the second day of his stay in Rajasthan on Thursday, Congress president Rahul Gandhi continued his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the removal of CBI director Alok Verma.
Addressing women workers of Congress in Kota, Gandhi repeated what he said at public meetings in Jhalawar and Kota on Wednesday and alleged that the prime minister got cold feet over a possible probe into the Rafale deal by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and replaced the agency’s chief on Tuesday night.
“Modi does not have the right to remove the CBI director. Sanction of Prime Minister, leader of the Opposition and Chief Justice of India is required for that. Modi government went ahead removing Verma without following the procedures,” Gandhi said.
“Modi took the decision of removing the CBI chief since if the agency had probed Rafale deal, then it would have exposed the theft of ~30,000 crore,” he said. Gandhi repeated the allegation that the PM paved the way for Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group to bag Rafale-related offset deal. Both the government and the Reliance Group have earlier rejected the charges.
Gandhi also said Modi cannot escape from the Rafale controversy as he “changed the deal without informing the defence ministry or the Indian Air Force”.
The All India Congress Committee (AICC) president alleged that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the BJP “believe in confining women to their homes” as against the Congress’s ide ology where “women are considered an integral part of society”.
“RSS claims that there’s a separate organisation for women but it is dependent on RSS for its decisions,” he added.
Claiming that increasing the representation of women in the Congress was his priority, Gandhi said he wants to see 30% to 40% women among chief ministers, members of Parliament, MLAs and organisational posts of the Congress in every state in the next two to three years.
He said that women candidates will be given opportunities in the coming assembly elections including Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana.
AICC general secretary (organisation) Ashok Gehlot, PCC president Sachin Pilot, national president of All India Mahila Congress Sushmita Dev, president of state unit of Mahila Congress Rehana Riaz, Sheo MLA Manvendra Singh and other Congress leaders were present.
Reacting to the allegations of Rahul Gandhi, BJP MP from Kota, Om Birla, said that Union finance minister Arun Jaitley has clarified that the CBI chief was removed on the recommendations of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to maintain the agency’s integrity.
Union minister Prakash Javadekar said in Delhi that the Congress president was “manufacturing lies everyday on the Rafale jet deal and said he is in hallucination as his party has lost relevance”. “The Congress has lost all hopes to become relevant and Rahul Gandhi is manufacturing lies everyday of Rafale jet deal,” Javadekar said.
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