New Delhi, Aug 8
Former BJP ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie on Wednesday alleged that the Rafale jet deal was "unilaterally" finalized by Prime Minister Narendra Modi by violating mandatory procedures, and this defence scandal was "larger than any thus far."
Activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who addressed the media with the former NDA ministers, said the manner in which the order for Rafale jets was changed made for a "clear case of criminal misconduct". Besides the "gross violation of mandatory procedures," a public sector undertaking was "inexplicably dropped" from the project, he said.
Demanding a time-bound probe by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, they asked the government to come clean on the issue.
"If the Modi government had stuck to the old deal (negotiated by the UPA government), we could have already got 18 aircraft in flyaway condition and production would have started on the rest of 108 in India. But a new deal of 36 aircraft was finalized without due procedure. Ye raat ko ilhaam kahan se aaya (When did this divine revelation come)?" Shourie asked.
"A new deal was finalized without floating any fresh tenders and the public was given to believe that we would get these aircraft in ready-to-fly condition within two years. But the fact is that we will get all the 36 in batches that would complete by mid 2022."
Bhushan said the government was trying to hide behind a secret clause in order to avoid revealing the cost of each jet, but this clause did not actually pertain to prices.
He said as per the prices revealed by Dassault Aviation, the final cost of each aircraft along with weapons, equipment and technology transfer is more than double the rate finalised in the old deal.
Sinha pointed out that the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), which should have vetted and cleared the deal first, was "nowhere in the picture" when Modi signed the deal in April 2016, and the CCS was seized of the matter around one year after the deal had been signed.
"The CAG should complete the forensic audit of the deal within three months and place its report in the public domain. We cannot hinge our hopes on Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) as the present Lok Sabha is on its last legs and JPC cannot take it up now," Sinha said.
Asked if they would move the court in the matter, Bhushan replied in the negative, citing various reasons, including the judicial climate.
Rafale charges by Shourie, Sinha fabricated, says SitharamanDefence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday night dismissed as "fabricated" the allegations by former BJP ministers Arun Shourie and Yashwant Sinha that the Modi government's deal to buy Rafale jets from France was the "biggest defence scandal" in the country.
"All allegations being levelled in various press conferences are already answered on the floor of the Parliament. A recent attempt, in the House, to malign the government through baseless charges collapsed. Today's was yet another attempt at repeating fabricated facts," Sitharaman said in a late night tweet.
The tweet came in response to Sinha and Shourie's allegation that the Rafale jet deal was "unilaterally" finalized by Prime Minister Narendra Modi by violating mandatory procedures, and the scandal was "larger than any thus far".
They sought a time-bound probe by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India and asked the government to come clean on the issue.
Activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who addressed the media with the former National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ministers, said the manner in which the order for Rafale jets was changed made for a "clear case of criminal misconduct".
Jaitley attacks Yashwant Sinha, Shourie on Rafale deal 'falsehood'
Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday dubbed as "falsehood" and "fabricated facts" former BJP Ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie's claims on the Rafale deal and said that "reprocessed lies were being made by forces desperate to prove their relevance".
In a Facebook post, Jaitley said that it was reprehensible that a fresh attempt to tarnish the Modi government's image had been made less than two weeks after the miserable failure of a similar effort in Parliament.
"I have seen another attempt today at maligning the government by spreading falsehood and peddling fabricated facts regarding the 2016 Inter-Governmental Agreement (with France) for Rafale fighter aircraft," the Minister said.
"There is not a grain of truth in the wild allegations repeated today nor anything substantiating in the purported facts and voluminous documents marshalled to corroborate the baseless accusations. The unsubstantiated allegations against the government constitute nothing but reprocessed lies by forces increasingly desperate to prove their relevance," he added.
Jaitley, a senior BJP leader, said that the government had already responded effectively to each and "every distortion and misinformation" on the issue.
He said that those raising alarm on alleged danger to national security ought to realise their responsibility and "refrain from politicising for narrow individual ends those very matters pertaining to national defence that were consistently ignored by them and by those with whom they sympathise".
Sinha and Shourie earlier in the day alleged that the jet deal was "unilaterally" finalised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi by violating mandatory procedures, and this "defence scandal was larger than any thus far".
Activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who addressed the media along with the former NDA Ministers, said that the manner in which the order for Rafale jets was changed made for a "clear case of criminal misconduct".
They sought a time-bound probe by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India and asked the government to come clean on the issue.
