Finance Minister Arun Jaitley led the BJP’s tirade against the Opposition during the debate on Rafale deal in Lok Sabha here on Wednesday. Focusing his attack on the first family of the Congress, he said those who are out on bail in the National Herald case are ‘manufacturing lies’ against the Centre in the Rafale deal. During his speech, Jaitley also mentioned the AgustaWestland and Bofors cases to corner the Congress.
Jaitley rejected the demand of the Opposition for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the issue and said the Supreme Court itself had directed against the pleas to hold a probe into the matter.
Targets JPC
Citing the JPC probe into the Bofors deal, Jaitley said it concluded that the kickbacks were winding up charges.
“It whitewashed corruption,” he said in Lok Sabha, adding that the JPC is a partisan body which cannot investigate the issue fairly. He added that it is ironical that a party like the Congress that is embroiled in corruption such as Bofors scam is demanding an investigation into the Rafale deal.
Jaitley had also objected to Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s request to table a taped conversation with Goa Minister Viswajit Rane, in which the Rafale deal was mentioned. Jaitley maintained that the price of ‘bare aircraft’ has been revealed and that the price of ‘weaponised’ version cannot be told as it would help India’s adversaries. He also claimed that the bare aircraft was 9 per cent cheaper than the one negotiated by the UPA and the weaponised version was 20 per cent cheaper.
On national security
During the UPA regime, he said decisions were delayed and the Congress compromised with national security. He said a fighter jet such as Rafale would have helped the country in situations like Kargil war.
He said the Congress will understand the logic of money.
‘Rahul dislikes truth’
“It is a tragedy that the Grand Old Party which was headed by the legends in the past is now headed by a gentleman who doesn’t have a basic understanding of combat aircraft,” he said. “There are some people who have a natural dislike for truth. Every word spoken for the last six months on this subject, including in this House (by them) is false....He has a legacy of telling lies,” Jaitley addded.
“We are all utterly disappointed because every word he has said has been denied by the Supreme Court. When the Supreme Court speaks on an issue, it is the last word,” the Finance Minister said and asked the Congress not to challenge the Supreme Court’s verdict.
“In 2012, it went to the table of the then Defence Minister, who everyone knows is a simple man who wrote that Rafale is appropriate, but the process through which it has become the lowest bidder needs to be looked into,” Jaitley added.