New Delhi, December 16 (IANS) Amid the row over the Supreme Court verdict in the Rafale case, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday attacked the Congress, saying "every word said against the government has proved to be false" and asserted that the audit review of Rafale was pending before the CAG.
Targeting Rahul Gandhi, who has been relentless in attackingthe Modi government over the military deal with France, Jaitley said theCongress President was desperately trying to bring an "immoralequivalence" between Rafale and Bofors.
He claimed the Supreme Court's Friday judgment has exposed"all the lies spoken on the Rafale deal" and "every fact statedby vested interests against the deal has proved to be manufactured".
In his blog, the BJP veteran cited three reasons forGandhi's opposition to the deal for purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets fromFrance, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April 2015.
"Firstly, he (Gandhi) could not tolerate the fact thatModi has run the cleanest ever government in recent Indian history.
"Secondly, Gandhi has the burden of a stigmatisedlegacy which was tainted by Bofors. He was desperate trying to bring an‘immoral equivalence' between Rafale and Bofors.
"Thirdly, with international cooperation andgovernmental cooperation, scamsters of the UPA government are now beingextradited into India. There is obviously a scare of who will talk howmuch," wrote Jaitley, in obvious reference to Christian Michel, accused inthe multimillion dollar corruption case in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal.
Following the recent extradition of British national Michelfrom the UAE to India, Modi and the BJP have been targeting UPA ChairpersonSonia Gandhi claiming that Michel had mentioned her name in his diary and willreveal more during interrogation.
On the question of the CAG report which the apex courtrelied upon to dismiss multiple petitions seeking a probe into the Rafale deal,Jaitley said the Modi government had factually and accurately stated thisbefore the court.
"The audit review of Rafale is pending before theComptroller and Auditor General (CAG). All facts are shared with it. When itsreport is out, it will go to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
"Notwithstanding this factually correct statement made,if an ambiguity has emerged in the court order, the correct course is foranyone to apply/mention before the court and have it corrected," he said,referring the Centre's Saturday plea to rectify two sentences in the para 25 ofthe judgment where due to "misinterpretation" by the court "is"was interpreted as "has been" at one place and as "was" inanother place.
Paragraph 25 of the judgment is at the centre of acontroversy in which the court said: "The pricing details have, however,been shared with the CAG and the CAG report has been examined by the PAC. Onlya redacted portion of the report was placed before Parliament and is in publicdomain."
Jaitley said: "The CAG review is not relevant to thefinal findings on procedure, pricing and offset suppliers. But bad losers neveraccept the truth. Having failed in multiple lies they have now started aninnuendo about the judgement. Having failed in their initial falsehood, theCongress is now manufacturing further lies.
"The Congress will prefer disruptions over discussionon Rafale during the current session of Parliament. On facts it lied. Thejudgment conclusively establishes the Congress' vulnerabilities in a discussionon defence transactions," added Jaitley.
Jaitley's latest attack come in the wake of the Congressseeking a recall of the Supreme Court judgment claiming it to be tainted by"false submission by the Modi government".
The party, including PAC Chairman Mallikarjun Kharge, havemaintained that "no portion of the CAG report has been placed beforeParliament or was in the public domain".
