Privilege motion submitted for misleading House on Rafale deal

On Tuesday, the Congress submitted a notice to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan for a privilege motion against PM Modi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for misleading the House on the commercial value of the deal to buy Rafale fighter jets from France.

The Congress’s plan to make the Rafale deal a key issue in the 2019 elections. This act came after four BJP MPs moved a privilege motion against Mr. Gandhi for stating “falsehood” against the Defence Minister. Rahul tweeted that, “Since 2014, India has had 4 revolving Raksha Mantris. Now we know why. It gave the PM space to personally re-negotiate RAFALE with the French. India has had 4 ‘Rafale Mantris’. But, none of them knows what really transpired in France. Except the PM. But he won’t speak!”

The Defence Ministers Rahul was referring to was Arun Jaitley who held the portfolio twice, Manohar Parrikar, and now Ms.Sitharaman.

Mallikarjun Kharge read to speaker, “I give notice of my intention to move a privilege motion against PM Modi for making a misleading statement in his speech on the debate of no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha on July 20.”

PM has asserted that revealing the purchase price of Rafale jet fighters was against national interests. The leaders of the Congress said the PM’s claim about transparency in the agreement was incorrect, untrue and wantedly made the intention of misdirecting the House.

The Congress said she, the Defence Minister, was “absolutely false and she wilfully misled not the members of the House, but also the entire nation.”