The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday launched a scathing attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after the Supreme Court gave a clean chit to the government on the Rafale deal and said he lied in Parliament and stooped to the “shameful” extent of misquoting the top court deliberately.
Addressing a press conference at the party office in New Delhi, senior BJP leader and Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Congress and in particular its former president Mr. Gandhi must apologise to the country.
Hailing the Supreme Court’s order on the Rafale deal as a victory of the country’s national security, Mr. Prasad said, “It is recognition of the honest decision making process of the Narendra Modi government...Satayamav Jayete. The Congress party must apologise and Rahul Gandhi in particular must apologise to the country.”
Hitting at Mr. Gandhi and his family, he said, “People having saga of corruption from Jeep scandal to Bofors to Submarine to AugstaWestland, where undertaking a political programme masquerading at the quest of justice.
“Raising false allegations on the Rafale deal was the lowest point of political discourse that he stooped to the shameful extent of misquoting the supreme court deliberately,” Mr. Prasad said.
Asserting that truth has prevailed, BJP working president J.P. Nadda said, “From road to Parliament, Rahul Gandhi and his party tried hard to mislead the country on this issue but truth prevailed. I wish Rahul Gandhi would be in country and should apologise to nation.”
The Supreme Court gave a clean chit to the Narendra Modi government in the Rafale fighter jets deal case , saying review petitions were without merit.
The court rejected pleas which had sought re-examination of the December 14, 2018 verdict which said there was no occasion to doubt the decision-making process in the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets.
Party leaders also took a dig at former Congress president Rahul Gandhi after the apex court asked him to be careful in future while closing a plea for contempt case against him for wrongly attributing certain comments on the Rafale deal to it.
“SC rejects review petitions on Rafale deal & raps Rahul Gandhi & asks him to be careful in future. Huge victory for Narendra Modi-led government,” BJP general secretary (organisation) B.L. Santhosh tweeted.
The Supreme Court also closed the contempt plea against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for wrongly attributing to the apex court his “chowkidar chor hai” remark in the Rafale case against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The court said the remarks made by Mr. Gandhi were far from true and he should have refrained from those and could have been careful.
