‘No guarantee’ by French govt is latest skeleton in Rafale cupboard: Rahul Gandhi

Team Udayavani, Nov 15, 2018, 4:43 PM IST

New Delhi: The Congress Thursday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of compromising national interests on the Rafale issue, with party chief Rahul Gandhi alleging that the latest skeleton to tumble out of the “Rafale cupboard” is that there is no guarantee by the French government backing the deal.

Gandhi asked if the Rafale jet deal can be called a “Government to Government” contract with Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying there is only a letter from the French government promising to be faithful.

“The latest skeleton to tumble out of the RAFALE cupboard: No Guarantee by the French Government backing the deal. BUT, our PM says there’s a letter from the French promising to be faithful. That’s enough to call this a “Government to Government” deal?” he asked on Twitter, using the hashtag “BikGayaChowkidar”.

The government told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that no “sovereign guarantee” was given by the French government on the deal for procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets.

The French government has, however, given a “letter of comfort” to India which would be good enough “governmental guarantee”, Attorney General K K Venugopal told the court.

Echoing his party president, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the only forum to investigate acts of omission, commission and corruption in the “biggest defence scam” of India is to have a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has gone as far as to sabotage his own nation’s interests in favour of his crony capitalist friends,” he said at a press conference, alleging that the prime minister had waived the sovereign guarantee requirement in the deal.