Rafale: Congress seeks Jaitely's apology for lying in Parliament

Hyderabad: The Congress party has strongly condemned Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for making personal remarks against Congress president Rahul Gandhi during the debate on the controversial Rafale aircraft deal in the Parliament.

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) Treasurer Gudur Narayana Reddy, in a media statement on Thursday, said that the use of unparliamentary language and personal attacks are the favourite tools of BJP leaders when they fail to defend the allegations of corruption. "Rafale is not only a scam of thousands of crores, but it is deal engineered by Prime Minister Narender Modi to compromise on national security," he said.

Condemning Jaitley for calling Rahul Gandhi a liar, Gudur Narayana Reddy said that the Finance Minister needs to do a serious introspection before making such comments on the Congress president. "Rahul Gandhi has been raising a few simple questions regarding Rafale deal. He is asking as to why the aircrafts which were worth just Rs. 526 crore each were purchased for over Rs. 1600 crore. Rahul Gandhi, on behalf of people of this country, has questioned the reasons behind giving the project to Anil Ambani's company while taking it away from the HAL, which has vast experience in defence manufacturing. Further, why PM Modi changed the contract to reduce the number of aircrafts to be purchased from 126 to 36. The realisation that the Prime Minister would be exposed if he answers these simple questions has forced Jaitely to carryout personal attack on Rahul Gandhi so as to divert the attention," he said.

Gudur Narayana Reddy said that the BJP should not object to a probe through Joint Parliamentary Committee if Modi has not done anything wrong. "Let the truth come out through JPC. If Modi's version in Rafale deal is based on truth, then he should not worry about an independent probe. Since Modi is apparently guilty and fears that his involvement in Rafale scam would get exposed, he is hiding in a room while asking Jaitley to attack Rahul Gandhi to divert everyone's attention," he alleged.

The Congress leader said that every word spoken by Rahul Gandhi on Rafale was truth. However, in the pursuit of defending a liar PM, Jaitley is trying to prove all others as liars. He said that the BJP should not object to a JPC probe. "JPC is nothing but a representative body of members of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha who make laws. Jaitely's opposition to JPC probe on Rafale deal shows that the BJP has no respect for the Parliament or its members," he said.

Gudur Narayana Reddy said that the silence of PM Modi on Rafale deal and the defensive and cautious approach of BJP Government have already exposed the fact that they have committed a fraud of over Rs. 40,000 crore and made a serious attempt to give that money, belonging to public exchequer, to Anil Ambani.

The Congress leader demanded that Jaitley withdraw his remarks against Rahul Gandhi and also tender an unconditional apology to the nation for resorting to falsehood while speaking in the Parliament to defend corruption of 'Bharatiya Jhoota Party'.