After meeting CAG, Congress now moves CVC over Rafale deal

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 24

The Congress today intensified its offensive against the Narendra Modi government on the Rafale issue by petitioning the Central Vigilance Commission to register a case of alleged corruption and seize all documents relating to the deal.

In a fresh twist to the Rafale purchase agreement, the party stopped short of demanding cancellation of the deal, saying it should not be irreversible. The ruling BJP returned fire, terming the issue as an “international conspiracy against PM Modi” and citing tweets by former Pakistan minister Rehman Malik, who called Congress president Rahul Gandhi India’s “next Prime Minister”.

The Congress advocated reversibility of the Rafale deal when asked if it wanted the deal cancelled. The Indian Air Force has been demanding fighter jets to regain squadron strength for 18 years now, with the first Rafale jet expected to arrive by September 2019.

“We have no issue with the Rafale jets. But the deal has to be examined. All documents have to be frozen. The government must send a warning to Dassault Aviation that jets could be returned if something is found wrong with the deal. We are not for irreversibility of the deal,” said Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi.

Petitioning the CVC, a delegation of Congress leaders demanded a probe into the “Rs 41,000-crore scam” involving alleged undue benefits to a private industrialist at the cost of defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. 

“The government must disclose the price of 36 aircraft so the CVC can examine the serious allegations of corruption. We request the CVC to undertake its statutory duty by examining the record threadbare so that corruption, crony capitalism, violation of law and procedure and loss to public exchequer is brought out at the earliest,” the party memorandum said. It also referred to former French President Francois Hollande’s recent remarks that France did not have a choice in the offset partner’s selection and was given only one name — that of Reliance Defence. The Congress also alleged that the PM unilaterally decided to buy 36 jets off the shelf from France on April 10, 2015, without consulting the Defence Acquisition Council. “The UPA deal of 126 jets was alive when PM Modi struck a fresh deal with France. The UPA deal was cancelled much later and post-deal clearances taken from Cabinet Committee on Security against rules. No one but the PM, the private industrialist who incorporated a defence firm 10 days before the deal and Hollande knew of the April 10, 2015, agreement,” Singhvi said, citing then Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar’s April 8, 2015, remarks about the deal not being on the agenda.

On BJP allegation’s allegations of collusion between the Congress and Hollande and now between the Congress and Pakistan, Singhvi said, “Nothing can be more laughable. You go to France and strike a deal with Hollande and you accuse us of collusion?”

Adding a fresh twist, the BJP alleged that the Congress wanted the deal to be cancelled as Gandhi’s brother-in-law Robert Vadra wanted the defence contract for his businessman friend Sanjay Bhandari. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the BJP would lead a nationwide campaign to “fight the perception battle” on the issue.