PTI, NEW DELHI: Congress President Rahul Gandhi Thursday alleged Prime Minister Narendra Modi was responsible for delay in delivery of Rafale fighter jets as he was holding “direct negotiations” in the deal and asked why there was no investigation against him when the government was talking of probing others for theft of documents.
Repeating his allegation of a “Rs 30,000 crore scam” in the Rafale deal, Gandhi also accused the government of manipulating institutions to “save” Prime Minister Modi and said justice should be for all.
The BJP hit back with union ministers Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad alleging that Gandhi was resorting to “blatant lies”, had more faith in Pakistan than in Indian forces and was getting more TRP in Pakistan.
Jaitley also dubbed Gandhi’s attack on Modi as an attempt to shift the focus due to people’s “revulsion” towards the Congress party.
Gandhi’s attack came a day after the government told the Supreme Court that documents related to the Rafale deal have been stolen from the Defence Ministry. The government told the court that it was probing the theft and also warned of using the Official Secrets Act against media publications for publishing reports based on those documents.
The Editors Guild of India has condemned the submission before the Supreme Court, saying any attempt to use the Official Secrets Act against the media is as “reprehensible” as asking journalists to disclose their sources.
BSP chief Mayawati also took a dig at the Centre’s disclosure about the “stolen” documents, saying it was a “very strange and irresponsible chowkidari”.
“The Modi govt made a sensational disclosure in the Hon’ble Supreme Court that secret documents pertaining to Rafale fighter deal were stolen from the Defence Ministry. Very strange & irresponsible chowkidari. Is national security & interest in the safe hands? Think long & loud,” she tweeted.
Later in a statement, she said it was “most irresponsible, most unfortunate and shameful” that Rafale documents got stolen.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the theft was a matter of concern and described the entire matter as ‘tamasha’ (farce) and hinted that its fallout would be known after the Lok Sabha elections.
