Rafale Deal: BJP to hold press conference at 70 places to 'expose' Congress

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday informed that it will conduct Press Conferences at 70 locations across the country on Monday, to "expose Congress for plotting conspiracy against the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Central government and messing with country's defence."

This comes after the government on Saturday filed an application before it, seeking a correction in the order to make it clear that the pricing aspect, examined by the CAG, has not been looked into by Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) as yet.

The Union of India (UOI) sought urgent correction in the wording of a particular paragraph in the order "in the interests of justice and in the facts and circumstances of the case", while noting that "the observations in the judgement have resulted in a controversy."

Earlier today, Indian Youth Congress workers marched to India Gate demanding the constitution of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the issue.

On Nov 14, Supreme Court dismissed batch of petitions calling for a probe into the controversial Rafale Deal, by which the Centre procured 36 fighter jets for Rs. 58,000 crore from French company Dassault Aviation.

"Perception of individuals cannot be the basis of fishing and roving inquiry by this court, especially in such matters," said a three-judge bench, while dismissing all the writ petitions which sought a Supreme Court-monitored probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the deal.

The court said it does not find any substantial material on record to show that this is a case of commercial favoritism to any party by the Government of India.

The Congress party, however, continued to raise their demand for the JPC by saying that 'Supreme Court was not the forum to discuss such sensitive defence contract'.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not initiating JPC probe in the matter and challenged him to allow the Congress party to conduct the investigation into the case in a press conference held after Supreme Court announced the verdict.