Supreme Court Verdict on Rafale Deal: BJP Seeks Apology From Rahul Gandhi, Congress Presses For JPC Probe; Here's Who Said What

New Delhi, December 14: With the Supreme Court quashing all the petitions against Rafale deal, Bharatiya Janata Party has sought an apology from the Congress president Rahul Gandhi for levelling false charges against the Union government, though Congress has requested a joint parliamentary committee to investigate the matter.

Expressing his opinion on Chief Justice’s Ranjan Gogoi’s verdict, in which he observed that ‘no probe required’ in the matter, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said, “The matter was crystal clear from the beginning, and we (BJP-led Central government) have been saying that the allegations levelled by Congress were baseless and to gain mileage.” Rafale Deal Detailed Scrutiny Not Required, No Need For Probe Into Aircraft Pricing, Rules Supreme Court as it Dismisses All Petitions.

Stating similar statement, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “India needed frontline fighters. We are happy with the verdict of the Supreme Court. It has upheld the Rafale deal. The entire deal was fair. All campaign against Rafale should end now.”

Congress in response to the judgement, stated, “The Supreme Court has clearly stated that it is outside their jurisdiction to probe into the Rafale Deal. We continue our demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee to investigate the Rafale scam.”

Stating the Rafale verdict is a validation of what Congress' statement, chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, "The verdict of the Supreme Court today is a validation of what the Congress party stated months again, that SC is not the forum to decide the such sensitive defence contract." He asked, "We set up a JPC for Bofors, why not for Rafale?"

He also said, "Article 136 and 32 are not the forum to decide the issue, the pricing, the process, the sovereign guarantee and the corruption in the Rafale contract. Only forum and only media is a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) which can probe the entire corruption in Rafale Deal."

Even petitioner Prashant Bhushan stated that they are not dropping their campaign against Rafale as of now. Stating that SC’s Rafale verdict is not right, he said, “We are not dropping our campaign against Rafale. SC’s Rafale verdict is not right. In our opinion the Supreme Court judgment is totally wrong, the campaign will certainly not drop, and we will decide if we will file a review petition.”

On the contrary, BJP president Amit Shah blamed Congress for creating false information and tweeted, "Truth always triumphs! Court’s judgment on the Rafale deal exposes the campaign of misinformation spearheaded by Congress President for political gains. The court didn’t find anything wrong with the process nor did it find any commercial favouritism in the deal."

Adding more, he wrote, "On the contrary SC held that government had no role in selecting offset partners and found no merit in the demand for a probe based on mere perception of individuals. It therefore raises obvious questions on the motive of those working to discredit the deal, which is important for India."

Announcing the verdict, CJI Gogoi said, "We don’t find any material to show that it’s commercial favouritism. There is no reason for interference in the choice of offset partner and perception of individuals can't be the basis for roving inquiry insensitive issue of defence procurement.

He added, "We can't compel government to purchase 126 aircraft and its not proper for the court to examine each aspect of this case. It isn't a job of the court to compare pricing details."

Earlier, the Congress and other parties had filed the petition in the Supreme Court, seeking an investigation into the deal for 36 Rafale fighter. The Union government has opposed to the decision of the Supreme Court to hear the petition, questioning its expertise to review the Rs 59,000-crore deal for 36 planes with French firm Dassault. Full Text of Rafale Deal Verdict by Supreme Court.

However, the court in this matter had assured the BJP-led central government that unless and until the judges think the pricing details should be made public, it would not be discussed. The bench was hearing the matter after Congress filed a court-monitored investigation into the deal, alleging the Union government of corruption and crony capitalism.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 14, 2018 11:56 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).