RAFALE ROW: Amazing audacity to question court, says Nirmala Sitharaman

After months of being accused by the Congress that the Rafale deal was a 'scam', the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday launched a multi-pronged attack against the Rafale deal in light of the favourable Supreme Court verdict on the issue. Party leaders and union ministers fanned all over the country to address as many as 70 press conferences. Leading the pack were defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Mumbai, health minister JP Nadda in Shimla, party spokesperson Sambit Patra in Bengaluru, union ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in Ahmedabad and Prakash Javadekar in Lucknow. Meanwhile, the opposition party gave privilege notices against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government in both Houses — only to be countered with a notice against Rahul Gandhi by the ruling party MPs.

In Mumbai, Sitharaman said the Congress was "knowingly" misleading people on the pricing of the Rafale jets. She lashed out against the Congress president for questioning the Supreme Court verdict and said, "The stance of the country's 'first family' in not listening to the apex court's order can be termed as, with due respect, amazing audacity." On the Opposition demand to set up a joint parliamentary committee (JPC), she said that "a JPC set up to unearth Bofors ended up converting kickbacks into winding up charges. So to ask for a JPC is for Congress' political grandstanding."

Meanwhile, Nadda said Congress president Rahul Gandhi, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh must apologise to the nation on the Rafale issue.

In another press interaction in Chandigarh, union minister of state Jitendra Singh said Rahul was leading a "misinformation campaign" regarding Rafale jets' pricing, procedure and offset partner. "The Supreme Court has exposed the Congress's lies," he said.

In Bengaluru, Patra said a "rattled Congress" is trying to play politics over the procurement of defence deals. "On the Rafale issue, Rahul, all along, was lying through his teeth and after the Supreme Court judgment, he has lost face," he said.

Meanwhile, three BJP members on Monday moved a privilege notice against the Congress president alleging that he "misled the House". BJP MPs Anurag Thakur, Nishikant Dubey and Sanjay Jaiswal have sought action against Rahul for his speech during the debate on the no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi government during Parliament's Monsoon Session.

MULTI-PRONGED ATTACK ON CONGRESS

• “The actual pain of the Congress is ‘how come their (BJP’s) shirt is whiter than ours,” Javadekar said in Lucknow
   
• “Want to ask Rahul the reasons for abruptly stopping the acquisition process completed in 2012,” said Fadnavis in Hyderabad