Who misled...

The SC judgment was delivered on Friday by a three-judge bench of the top court headed by chief justice Ranjan Gogoi.

“The pricing details have, however, been shared with the Comptroller and Auditor General (hereinafter referred to AS“CAG”), and the report of the CAG has been examined by the Public Accounts (Committee),” the judgment added.

The court seems to have erred on this point. While CAG Rajiv Mehrishi was not available for comments, an official of the audit body familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity that it “has not given any report to the Parliament on the Rafale deal” although the government has shared price details with it.

Speaking at a press conference along with PAC chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and others, Gandhi said, “How does the Supreme Court judgment have this line that Rafale pricing has been examined by the PAC? Now, we have to ask the government, where is this CAG report?”

He added, “Maybe it is happening in some other Parliament, may be in France. Or, Modi-ji might have set up a PAC in the Prime Minister’s Office,” before reiterating his slogan, “Chowkidar chor hai.”

Kharge emphasised that the deputy CAG deposed before his panel on Friday but the audit watchdog has not given any report on Rafale. “We don’t know how this happened. But this is strange,” added Kharge.

Biju Janata Dal lawmaker and PAC member Bhartruhari Mahtab confirmed this: “There has not been any communication in any manner, be it oral or written, between the PAC and the CAG on Rafale. The rules are clear that only after the CAG report is placed before Parliament, the PAC takes up the matter for review.”

To be sure, the order’s reference to the report doesn’t seem to impinge on the thrust of the order -- which is that due process was followed in the deal, that the court does not have the power to go into the pricing issue, and that the choice of the offset partner is not the government’s but the aircraft maker’s. When asked about the non-existent CAG report, Finance minister Arun Jaitley said: “I think whatever are the contents of the verdict in terms of the procedural details of the narration which have been given that is not a subject matter of our comment. If there is something that is required to be done in that regard, I think the lawyers will examine it and do the needful.”

Lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan, who was one of the petitioners in the case, said some of the facts mentioned in the order are neither on record nor factually correct.

Bhushan said in a statement that the CAG report has not been submitted to PAC and no portion of the CAG report has been placed before Parliament or placed in the public domain. “Obviously this factually incorrect statement must be based on some communication [not on record and unknown to us] made by the government to the court,” he alleged.

Bhushan pointed out that the court also mentioned its judgment that the chief of the Indian Air Force had communicated his reservation regarding the disclosure of the pricing details which would adversely affect national security. “This alleged fact was also not on record and it is not understood as to where and how the court got this,” said Bhushan.

The judgment mentioned that the bench during hearing in the case interacted with the senior Air Force officials who “answered Court queries in respect of different aspects, including that of the acquisition process and pricing.” Bhushan termed this too as “factually incorrect”. “The only question asked of the Air Force officials by the court and the only questions they answered was about whether the Rafale aircraft belonged to the 3rd, 4th and 5th generation and when the last acquisition took place. They were neither questioned, nor did they say anything on the acquisition process or on pricing. At least this did not happen during court proceedings,” said Bhushan.

The petitioners had also alleged that the Rafale maker Dassault gave an offset contract to Anil Ambani’s group company at the cost of public sector Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and the court, in its order seems to get confused between Reliance Industries, promoted by Mukesh Ambani, with which Rafale maker Dassault was discussing a partnership in 2012 and Reliance Defence, promoted by Anil Ambani, with which Dassault entered into a partnership in 2015. The two run separate conglomerates. Lawyer Bhushan pointed out: “The Reliance Company with which Dassault was once discussing, was a completely different company of Mukesh Ambani and had nothing to do with the new company of Anil Ambani incorporated at the time of the 2015 deal.”

After Rahul Gandhi’s press conference, law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters the Congress chief’s statement were unfortunate and a new low in country’s politics. “Does he consider himself above the Supreme Court? “[The] SC verdict has exposed the lies of Rahul Gandhi. We had expected that he will accept the judgment with humility,” Prasad said, adding that Gandhi’s statement shows his frustration. Parliament from Jodhpur five times and represented Sardarpura in the state assembly an equal number of times.

Pilot represented Dausa and Ajmer in the Lok Sabha in 2004 and 2009 respectively.

While Gehlot is known for his political acumen and organisational skills, Pilot is credited with strengthening the party at the grassroots level.

Pilot expressed confidence that the Congress will sustain its electoral performance, saying the party will get a big mandate in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and form the government at the Centre, too.

With the Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan CM selections done, the Congress leadership is now grappling with the issue in Chhattisgarh, where the party won a two-thirds majority, ousting the BJP from power after 15 years.

Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Tamradhwaj Sahu, state chief Bhupesh Baghel and former legislature party leader TS Singhdeo are the front-runners.

During the day, the leaders held extensive deliberations both with Gandhi and his mother and former party chief Sonia Gandhi.

A section of the party had argued that since there had been a massive consolidation of the Other Backward Classes (OBCS) in favour of the Congress, the next chief minister should be from the community.

Both Baghel and Sahu belong to the OBCS; TS Singhdeo is a Rajput.