Apart from raising questions on the procedure followed, Shourie squarely laid the blame on Narendra Modi for the Rafale deal.
New Delhi: Former union minister Arun Shourie led the charge against the Narendra Modi government on the Rafale deal in the Supreme Court Wednesday as the political controversy over the propriety of the mega defence contract continued to rage.
“PM Modi’s visit to France was not about a defence deal. Yet a new deal was announced suddenly in violation of all procedural norms and ignoring all valid concerns,” Shourie told the court.
Apart from raising questions on the procedure followed, Shourie squarely laid the blame on Modi for the deal.
“(Manohar) Parrikar was taken by surprise when the deal was announced and he was not in the loop,” Shourie said referring to statements made by the former defence minister.
The decision to sign the deal was taken during Modi’s visit to France in 2015. The contract for the same was signed in 2016.
Shourie, a veteran journalist and a minister in the NDA government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, is one of the petitioners who have moved the top court seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the Modi government’s handling of the Rs 59,000-crore defence deal.
Also read: Supreme Court merely sniffing secret envelopes to see if there’s a scam in Rafale deal
‘Friendly media’
In his 30-minute argument before a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, Shourie questioned the offset contracts in the Rafale deal.
“It is impossible to understand why they selected a company as offset partner which has zero experience and was incorporated days before the deal,” he said, referring to Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence.
Shourie also expressed doubts about Dassault Aviation, the French jet-maker that makes Rafale fighter jets.
“Dassault itself has been in serious financial difficulty and this deal has helped them immensely,” he said.
“The government is now putting all kinds of things about Dassault through friendly media,” he added, referring to two interviews given by Dassault CEO Éric Trappier to Indian media houses where he defended the move to include Reliance as the offset partner.
Despite endorsing Modi in 2014, Shourie is now one of Modi’s fiercest critics.
Shourie, another former union minister Yashwant Sinha, and activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan had earlier met CBI chief Alok Verma to probe the Rafale deal. Subsequently, Sinha and Shourie moved the top court.
The Supreme Court reserved its verdict in the case.
This is a cliffhanger for me: is Shourie a disgruntled person seeking revenge or he is showing utmost integrity by standing against the PM even though he worked for the same party before? I have immense respect for his intellectualism but am unsure if Rafale is really a scam. I will wait with all curiosity to see the eventual outcome of this duel.
It is a pity that leaders want power till their death.Yashwant Sinha’s son is a minister.If Shri.Modi accommodates all “stalwarts” how will the NEW GENERATION will get a chance?
He did not do any thing for the country.But he did not cause any destruction like Mody did.He may be greedy, I do not know.But you mean to say Modi is not?
This guy is greedy for posts. What did he do for the country last time?