Congress Scorpene leak broadside to divert attention from Rahul defamation case, says BJP

Hitting out at the Congress for coming down on the Centre over the Scorpene submarine data leaks, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday asserted that it was a ploy by the grand old party to divert attention from the 'embarrassment' caused to it by party vice president Rahul Gandhi's defamation row.

"As soon as the information regarding the leaks came to light, talks of a probe were in motion, all efforts were made and are still being made to garner as much information as possible. Will the Indian government ever want national security to be threatened in any way? Prime Minister Modi's government will never want such a thing," BJP leader Nalin Kohli told ANI here.

The Congress has been insisting on a probe headed by a sitting Supreme Court judge in the matter. Kohli described the demand as ludicrous, and pointed out that every prominent scam that had occurred in the country so far, had taken place under the watch of the grand old party, amd no action had been taken until the apex court stepped in.

"Why is the Congress raising such a demand? In the last 70 years, many scams have taken place and they are all under the Congress rule, including the defence sector. They must be feeling a little embarrassed about the Rahul Gandhi defamation case, so they are trying to divert focus," Kohli said.

Yesterday, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar branded the entire incident as a case of hacking.

"This (the report) came to my knowledge at 12 midnight, it is a case of hacking. Navy Chief has been asked to analyze as to what exactly has been leaked. First step is to identify if it is related to us, and anyway, its not all 100% leak," he told ANI.

The Indian Navy, in a statement said on Wednesday, said that it appears that the source of leak is from overseas and not in India.

India has ordered six Scorpene-class submarines in a deal worth USD 3 billion. The first of the submarines built at the Mazagon Docks in Mumbai began sea trials in May.

A report in the Australian media revealed that sensitive information related to India's Scorpene submarines has been leaked, with French shipbuilder DCNS, which designed the submarine, facing a leak of documents spreading over 22,000 pages.

According to The Australian, the leak includes details of the secret combat capability of these submarines, including underwater sensors, above-water sensors, combat management system, torpedo launch system and specifications, communications system and navigation systems.