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Rafale row: Congress meets Central Vigilance Commission, BJP vows to hit back

BJP says it will state facts to counter ‘perception battle’ launched against Centre

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A Congress delegation met the CVC commissioner
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The Congress raised the pitch over the Rafale fighter jet controversy, approaching the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) on Monday, even as the Centre vowed to fight the “perception battle being” launched by the Opposition.

A Congress delegation met CVC commissioner KV Chowdary and demanded a scrutiny of the deal. In a dossier entailing details of the Rafale deal, Congress called it “India’s biggest defence scam”, and demanded that the CVC examine the deal.

“The government of India is unforgivably guilty of causing loss by a conspiracy to the public exchequer worth Rs 41,205 crore. Deliberate loss caused as also denial of a contract worth over Rs 30,000 crore to a public sector undertaking, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), is writ large,” it further read.

The delegation comprised senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ahmed Patel, Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Jairam Ramesh, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Manish Tewari, Vivek Tankha, Parmod Tiwari and Pranav Jha.

Meamwhile, Congress president Rahul Gandhi fired a fresh salvo at the Centre on the Rafale deal, accusing Narendra Modi of snatching money away from the poor and handing it over to industrialist Anil Ambani.

“The ‘chowkidar’ of the country has taken out Rs 20,000 crore from the pockets of the poor, martyrs and the jawans and put it in the pocket of Ambani,” Rahul said. “Why was the price not disclosed? How was the contract given to Ambani? Serious charges have been levelled by former French president Francois Hollande.”

On the other hand, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has vowed to fight the perception battle over the deal, saying facts would be put on the table. “This is a perception battle. We’ll go to places and state facts on record on Rafale. Congress designs to run a smear campaign against us at an international level. This is an attempt to malign our reputation,” she said.

Furthermore, Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said the Congress’ campaign is an “international conspiracy”. He claimed Rahul wants the deal scrapped to help a firm linked to his brother-in-law Robert Vadra, and is also in nexus with Hollande for this. “There is a conspiracy to get the deal scrapped, defame the country, and lower the morale of the Indian Air Force,” he said.

THEY SAID IT

  • A Congress delegation said the Centre is ‘guilty of causing loss by conspiracy worth Rs 41,205 crore’. 
     
  • Chowkidaar has taken money and put it in Ambani’s pocket: Rahul
     
  • It’s a perception battle. We’ll go to places and state facts on record: Sitharaman
     
  • Minister Gajendra Shekhawat said it’s an international conspiracy to defame India.

—With inputs from agencies

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