Rahul Gandhi brought immoral equivalence between Rafale, Bofors: Jaitley

Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday alleged that Congress president Rahul Gandhi was trying to bring an "immoral equivalence" between the Rafale fighter jet deal and Bofors scam.

"Rahul Gandhi has the burden of a stigmatised legacy which was tainted by Bofors. He was desperate trying to bring an 'immoral equivalence' between Rafale and Bofors. But Rafale did not have middlemen, no kickbacks and obviously no Ottavio Quattrocchi," Jaitley wrote on Facebook.

Continuing his tirade against the Congress president, he asserted, "As a political opponent Rahul Gandhi's opposition to the deal was a desperate attempt. It was the UPA government which had shortlisted the Rafale as it was technically the best and the cheapest. PM Modi in an Inter-Governmental agreement struck a deal with the French Government to further improve the terms and conditions including the prices on which the UPA had agreed."

Jaitley further claimed that the judgement of the Supreme Court has been delivered after noting that procedural compliances have been done.

"The judgement of the Supreme Court notes with satisfaction that procedural compliances have been done and the charges on the same are misconceived," he said.

The Finance Minister's post comes two days after the Supreme Court refused to intervene in the Rafale fighter deal, saying there is "no occasion to really doubt the process", delivering a major victory to the government and lending a setback to the Congress which has been alleging corruption in the agreement.

However, the union government on Saturday moved an application seeking a correction in the order to make it clear that the pricing aspect, examined by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), has not been looked into by Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) as yet.

Elaborating upon the ambiguity of CAG, Jaitley said, "Defence transactions go to the CAG for an audit review. CAG recommendations go to Parliament and are referred to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) whose reports are then placed before the Parliament. This was factually and accurately stated by the Government before the Court. The audit review of Rafale is pending before the CAG. All facts are shared with it. When its report is out, it will go to the PAC. Notwithstanding this factually correct statement made, if an ambiguity has emerged in the Court Order, the correct course is for anyone to apply / mention before the Court and have it corrected. The past practice is that if in a factual narration anything needs to be corrected, any litigant can move to the Court for the same. This has been done. It must now be left to the wisdom of the Court to state at which stage the CAG review is pending. The CAG review is not relevant to the final findings on procedure, pricing and offset suppliers. But bad losers never accept the truth. Having failed in multiple lies they have now started an innuendo about the Judgement. Having failed in their initial falsehood, the Congress is now manufacturing further lies about the Judgement."

Concluding his detailed description about the "lies of Congress," Jaitley expressed that he is "certain" that the party will prefer disruptions over discussions.

"I am certain that the Congress Party will prefer disruptions over discussion on Rafale during the current session of Parliament. On facts it lied. The judgement of the Supreme Court conclusively establishes the Congress Party's vulnerabilities in a discussion on defence transactions. It will be a great opportunity to remind the nation of the legacy of the Congress Party and its defence acquisitions - a great opportunity indeed for some of us to speak," he concluded.