New Delhi, November 9: Seizing on a French media report that commissions were paid between 2007 and 2012 for securing the Rafale deal with India, the BJP on Tuesday said the Indian National Congress should be renamed as "I Need Commission" and alleged that the Congress' dissatisfaction with the kickback offered was behind the failed negotiations when it was in power.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra launched a scathing attack on the Congress leadership, especially Rahul Gandhi who has been alleging corruption in the purchase of the fighter aircraft by the Modi government, and accused him of spreading "canard, disinformation and lies".

For the Congress to attack the Modi government for corruption in the fighter aircraft deal is a case of a thief targeting the cop, Patra said and sought Rahul Gandhi's response to the fresh claims by French investigative journal Mediapart. Also Read | Fuel Prices: BJP to Intensify Protest Against Non-BJP Governments for Not Slashing VAT on Diesel, Petrol.

He should respond to this from Italy, Patra said, citing reports that the Congress leader is currently not in India. Corruption's address has been 10 Janpath, he alleged, referring to the residence of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and claimed that it as become "homeless" after the BJP came to power.

The Congress hit back at the BJP, saying that the government has launched "operation cover-up" and demanded to know as to why it had not probed the entire episode so far. Noting that his party has been seeking a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the deal, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera asked as to why the government has not agreed to this.

The political battle over the matter has heated up after Mediapart made fresh claims that bogus invoices were used that enabled French aircraft maker Dassault Aviation to pay at least 7.5 million euros in secret commissions to a middleman to help it secure the Rafale deal with India.

According to Mediapart's investigation, Dassault Aviation paid the kickbacks to the intermediary in Mauritius between 2007 and 2012. The Congress-led UPA was in power between 2004 and 2014. The media report has led the ruling BJP to launch an aggressive counter-attack on the main opposition party for the first time after confining itself mostly to dismissing the allegations of corruption in the deal.

The Modi government had inked the deal on September 23, 2016, to procure 36 Rafale jets from Dassault Aviation after a nearly seven-year exercise to procure 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) for the Indian Air Force did not fructify during the UPA regime.

Lashing out at the Congress, Patra alleged that it was the dissatisfaction of the Congress and the Gandhi family that was the main reason behind the negotiations falling through during the UPA government. The Mediapart story says that "corruption, influence-peddling and favourtism" marked the deal during the UPA government, he said. BJP Leader Sambit Patra Slams Rahul Gandhi, Terms Congress 'I Need Commission' Party for 'Corruption' in Rafale Deal.

Citing a number of corruption cases linked to the Congress governments in the past, he said, "It will not be an exaggeration to say that the INC be renamed as 'I Need Commission'. "Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Robert Vadra... all say that I need commission," Patra said.

The UPA government had a deal within every deal, he added. Citing the French report, he said the commission was over 40 percent and alleged that Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi broke all "records". He claimed that this makes it clear that the commission had been received during the Congress government.

The Congress has in past said that the allegations of corruption by the BJP against its ruling family and its members were driven by vendetta. To the Congress' contention as to why the government has not probed the matter, Patra noted that the alleged middleman was earlier arrested by Enforcement Directorate in a corruption case and said probe agencies must be looking into the matter.

The BJP spokesperson said the alleged middleman Sushen Mohan Gupta, whose name has cropped up in the Rafale case, was also accused of pocketing commission in the purchase of VVIP choppers. This is too much of a coincidence, and too much of a coincidence is always a conspiracy, he said.

The Supreme Court and the CAG have already gone into the contents of the Rafale deal signed by the Modi government and found nothing wrong in it, Patra said. He said Rahul Gandhi had made the alleged corruption in the purchase a big election issue during the 2019 polls but it failed to make any impact. The BJP retained power with a bigger majority.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)