New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday noted that the CAG report on the Rafale deal does not mention the dissent note by negotiators and said he doesn’t think its worth the paper its written on.
Gandhi’s dismissal of the Comptroller and Auditor General report came hours after the paper was tabled in Parliament.
The government’s argument on price and faster delivery of Rafale fighter jets has been demolished, Gandhi said at a press conference.
The only reason for the new deal is to give Rs 30,000 crore to industrialist Anil Ambani, the Congress chief alleged.
The government and Ambani have rejected the Congress’ allegations on the figher jet deal with France
“The argument given by the prime minister for the new Rafale deal was price and faster delivery. This has been demolished,” he said, citing a note by officials.
“You say there was no scam, then why are you afraid of ordering a JPC,” he said, reiterating his demand for a joint parliamentary committee to look into the deal.
The Congress attack came a day after Gandhi accused the prime minister of “treason” and violating the Official Secrets Act by acting as Anil Ambani’s “middleman” in the Rafale jet contract, citing an email to claim the businessman was aware of the deal days before India and France finalised it.
The BJP, however, rejected the charge, saying the email purportedly by an Airbus executive referred to a helicopter deal and not Rafale.
Reliance Defence, in a statement, also refuted Gandhi’s allegation saying the “proposed MoU” mentioned in the email referred to its cooperation with Airbus Helicopter.
Also read: Modi govt’s Rafale deal cheaper than UPA’s, says CAG
CAG is appointed by Ruling Government under the provisions of Constitution. Once appointed, CAG is an Independent Agency to carry out its functions like Election Commission of India. So far since Independence, no political leader has questioned CAG’s Report. If Rahul Gandhi speaks against CAG, it is his height of Immaturity. TN Chaturvedi was appointed as CAG and Vinod Rai were appointed by Congress Governments, but they gave reports hostile to Congress Governments. CAG takes oath from President and his allegiance is to the Constitution of India. It is unfortunate that Rahul gandhi being President of Congress still behaves irresponsible.
The opposition will continue to protest. Critics may frown on non-obtention of sovereign guarantee. The Hindu may quibble about inclusion of the consequent cost saving in the price calculations. However, one indisputable fact has emerged out of the Rafale churning. The infamous and fallacious price comparison of Rs.600 crore versus Rs.1600 crore has no rational basis. The aggregate price of the fighter jet comprises of ten item-wise costs. Evidently, quotes for all the ten items were included in the 2007 bid offer. The CAG report has compared cost of all the ten items in 2016 deal with respective quotes for these items made in the 2007 bid offer. Rahul Gandhi picked up 2007 quote for only one item relating to Flyaway Aircraft Package and compared it with the aggregate price in the 2016 deal. This led to the misleading conclusion – “ Chowkidar Chor Hai”. The futile, wasteful and malicious campaign launched by Rahul Gandhi is hollow and without any substance.