Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “lacking the guts” to face questions on the Rafale deal. Paper planes were flown in the house by Opposition members, leading to the Speaker admonishing them for their “childish behaviour”, and eventually the house was adjourned.
Rahul Gandhi wanted to be allowed to play an audio tape on Rafale that the Congress claimed was a recording of a minister from Goa quoting chief minister Manohar Parrikar saying that files related to the Rafale jet deal were “in his bedroom”. Parikkar was the Union defence minister when the Rafale deal for 36 Rafale jets was signed between India and France. The tape however, wasn’t eventually played.
The Goa minister concerned – Vishwajit Rane – has since denied it was his voice. Parikkar too said that the contents weren’t true and tweeted that this was a “desperate attempt to fabricate facts”.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala claimed that in the said tape the Goa minister is talking to a person about a confidential meeting. In the tape, the person who is purportedly Rane, says that Parikkar had said no one could remove him as the Rafale documents were in his flat, in his bedroom. The two persons discuss that this means Parikkar is holding them to ransom.
During the day, former ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, along with advocate Prashant Bhushan appealed to the Supreme Court to review its December 14 decision on Rafale, in which the apex court had said that there was no need to conduct investigation into the details of the pricing.
Meanwhile, in Parliament, Gandhi alleged yet again that the government had favoured industrialist Anil Ambani. “Yesterday, the PM said no one was questioning him on the Rafale deal. The whole country is questioning you,” said Gandhi and sought a Joint Parliamentary Committee to investigate the Rafale deal.
Union finance minister Arun Jaitley, referring to Rahul Gandhi, said: “This man lies repeatedly… There are some people who have a natural dislike for truth. This is a case where there is a dislike for truth,” he said.
Jaitley raised the AgustaWestland deal, the National Herald and the Bofors cases, and referring to a line from the James Bond movies, said: “If it happens once, it’s happenstance; if it happens twice, it’s a coincidence; but if it happens thrice, then it’s a conspiracy.”
