Gajendra Shekhawat says Gandhis wanted deal for Robert Vadra’s friend. Sitharaman to travel across country to counter Congress ‘propaganda’.
New Delhi: Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat Monday alleged that an “international conspiracy” to weaken the Indian Air Force and the Narendra Modi government was behind the allegations surrounding the Rafale fighter jet deal, even as Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said she will travel across the country to counter the Congress’ “propaganda”.
Shekhawat, the minister of state for agriculture, alleged that the ‘conspiracy’ had its genesis in Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s foreign tours.
“There is an international conspiracy to overthrow the Modi government. There is a conspiracy by the Congress to cancel the Rafale deal in an indirect manner.”
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Shekhawat further accused the Opposition of risking internal security by “putting out details of defence equipment”.
His charges came on a day that a Congress delegation met the central vigilance commissioner (CVC) to submit a memorandum, while demanding the registration of a corruption case in the deal.
Shekhawat’s allegations also come on the back of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley suggesting that Gandhi may have a role in the current Rafale controversy.
On Sunday, Jaitley alleged that there was a correlation between a tweet by Gandhi on 30 August, about Rafale dropping some big bunker bombs in a couple of weeks, to former French president Francois Hollande claiming that he had no role in deciding Dassault’s offset partner.
“Yeh jo jugalbandi hai, mere pass sabot nahi hai, lekin mann mein prashan khada hota hai (I don’t have evidence for this but it certainly raise a doubt),” Jaitley had told ANI.
Minister drags in Vadra
Shekhawat also alleged that UPA did not formalise the Rafale deal as the Gandhis wanted the deal to go to Robert Vadra’s company, Offset India Solutions, formed in 2008. He alleged that Sanjay Bhandari, Vadra’s friend, sought to get the deal for the company.
He also said that the Rafale controversy “was manufactured by the Congress” to show Dassault its place as it refused to entertain Vadra’s company as part of the deal.
“There is conscious effort to send a message to foreign defence dealers that if they can put pressure on them while they are out of power, imagine what they can do when they are in power,” Shekhawat said.
Shortly before Shekhawat’s press conference, Sitharaman too said there were “international dimensions” to the controversy and added that she would counter each and every allegation with facts.
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Top government sources told ThePrint that the offset rules, at the centre of the controversy, have been the same since 2006 and only minor changes have been made over the years. Sources also said that the first aircraft will come to India in September 2019 and that country will get 36 of the jets between 2019 and 2022.
“The CAG, CVC is looking at it. What more transparent way is there to audit the deal,” said the sources.