Fear of...

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 Upaera 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