A day after the Supreme Court declined to order a probe into the contentious Rafale deal, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday said he would request the Public Accounts Committee to summon the attorney general and Comptroller and Auditor General.
Kharge, who is the chairman of the PAC, accused the Narendra Modi government of misleading the Supreme Court by stating that the CAG report on the Rafale deal had been tabled in Parliament. Kharge demanded the Modi government apologise over the matter.
Kharge said, "I will request the PAC members to call the attorney general (AG) and the Comptroller and Auditor General to ask them when was the CAG report on the Rafale deal tabled in Parliament.” Kharge claimed “wrong information was being fed” to the Supreme Court.
Kharge said while the Congress respected the Supreme Court, the apex court was not a probe agency and only a joint parliamentary committee could investigate the alleged corruption in the Rafale deal.
In a series of tweets on Friday, Randeep Singh Surjewala, in-charge of communications for the Congress, argued that the Modi government had misled the Supreme Court in repeated instances. Surjewala wrote, “S.C also seriously erred in noting that arrangement between Parent Reliance Co. & Dassault started in 2012(Para 32). Parent Co, Reliance Defense [sic] was born on 28/3/2015 & Reliance Areostructure [sic] was born on 24/4/2015 and not 2012.”
Mukesh Ambani had entered into an agreement with Dassault in 2012, but left the defence industry in 2014. His brother, Anil Ambani, formed Reliance Defence in 2015.
4/n #RafaelVerdict
— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) December 14, 2018
S.C says no role of PSU, HAL
But-
1. Workshare Agreement between Dassault & HAL of 13/3/2014.
2. On 25/3/2015, Dassault CEO spoke of relationship at HAL factory at Bangalore.
3. On 8/4/2015, Foreign Secy said HAL & Dassault agreement is on.
Who misled court?
Surjewala also tweeted that the Modi government had misled the Supreme Court on the status of negotiations between Dassault Aviation, the manufacturer, of the Rafale, and HAL. Surjewala cited progress in negotiations between HAL and Dassault, including arriving at a work-share agreement before the talks were terminated with Modi's announcement of a purchase of 36 fighters in 2015.
Meanwhile, Dassault Aviation on Friday evening welcomed the Supreme Court ruling on petitions seeking a probe. In a press release welcoming the Supreme Court's decision, the company noted, “Dassault Aviation takes note of the Supreme Court conclusions establishing the absence of any irregularities in the decision-making process to purchase 36 Rafale, pricing of Rafale jets and selection of Indian offset partner.”
(With PTI inputs)
