Later speaking to press, senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said, " We submitted a detailed memorandum along with enclosures which very clearly establishes irregularities in Rafale purchase.
Congress leaders today met Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) to seek a probe into the alleged irregularities in the high-profile Rafale fighter aircraft deal. Randeep Surjewala, Anand Sharma, Ashok Gehlot, Motlilal Vohra, Jairam Ramesh, Ahmed Patel, Rajeev Shukla, Mukul Vasnik met the CAG to put forward their demand.
Later speaking to press, senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said, " We submitted a detailed memorandum along with enclosures which very clearly establishes irregularities in Rafale purchase. We hope that the matter will be looked into by CAG: Anand Sharma after meeting of Congress delegation with Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG)".
Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Sugrewala said, " We explained to the CAG how Hindustan Aeronautics Limited was removed from the deal to benefit a private player. We hope the CAG will give its report soon. The CAG has assured us that they are already examining all aspects of the deal." He further said, " We expect that when the report on the deal comes out in public domain, the real scam will come out and the truth shall prevail".
The Congress demand to get CAG to probe the alleged scam comes after the government made it clear that it wouldn't form a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) in this matter. The Congress has been continuously holding a series of press conferences on the Rafale issue, raising several questions on the deal done by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government with France to purchase the Rafale fighter jets. However, the Centre has denied all the allegations imposed by the opposition.
The Rafale jets were chosen during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) tenure in 2012. Initially, India had planned to buy 18 off-the-shelf jets from France, with 108 others to be assembled in the country by the state-run aerospace and defence company HAL. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government scrapped the UPA's plan in 2015 and announced that it would buy 36 "ready-to-fly" Rafale jets instead of seeking a technology transfer from France's Dassault Aviation and making the aircraft in India.
Even on Tuesday, former Defence Ministry AK Antony and current minister Nirmala Sitharaman locked horns over the details of deal. While the Congress believes that BJP is trying to cover-up a scam, the government has claimed that it managed to get a better deal with Rafale from France.
With ANI inputs
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