Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said the separate opinion of Supreme Court judge Justice K.M. Joseph in the Rafale review case has opened a door for an investigation into the Rafale fighter aircraft deal, and reiterated his demand for instituting a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to probe the pact.
At a separate press conference, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala alleged that the BJP was trying to “mislead” the people and dared the government to carry out an open investigation.
Asked whether the party would stick to its chowkidar chor hain (the watchman is the thief) slogan, he replied in the affirmative. It would remain until a proper investigation unravelled all aspects of the Rafale deal, he said. “Justice Joseph of the Supreme Court has opened a huge door into an investigation of the Rafale scam. An investigation must now begin in full earnest. A Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) must also be set up to probe this scam,” Mr. Gandhi tweeted with the hashtag ‘BJP Lies On Rafale’.
Though the three-judge Bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S.K. Kaul and Joseph gave a clean chit to the Modi government on the purchase of 36 Rafales from French company Dassault Aviation, Justice Joseph had written the separate opinion.
Justice Kaul, while reading out the main judgment, said the judges had reached the conclusion that it was inappropriate to order a roving inquiry.
Justice Joseph said he agreed with the main verdict written by Justice Kaul subject to certain aspects on which he had given his own reasons.
At a press conference, Mr. Surjewala said the BJP should stop celebrating and focus on an investigation as the court decision had paved the way for a probe.
“The Supreme Court review judgment has paved the way for a comprehensive criminal investigation into the ‘Rafale scam, more specifically para 86 of the judgment,” said Mr. Surjewala at a joint press conference with his party colleague Jaiveer Shergil.
“The judgment has also reaffirmed the Congress’s stance that the court has limited jurisdiction under Article 32 of the Constitution but the police, the CBI or any independent investigator can investigate. We challenge the government to have a JPC probe and allow the media to report the proceedings,” he added.
