Rahul must apologise for misleading people with blatant lies on Rafale: FM

'Chor comment by Rahul Gandhi of Congress was repeated several times for political gains', said FM

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said there was a "motivated propaganda" behind questioning the Rafale fighter jet deal and demanded that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi apologise to the nation for misleading people on the issue.

Welcoming the court decision to dismiss the petitions, she said: "Shows that government's decision was right on the price, the process and on the offsets. Prime Minister Narendra Modi put national security on top," adding that the Air Force was needed to be "strengthened without any further delay".

The BJP leader said that there was a "motivated propaganda" behind raising objections in the deal which, she said, has been "defeated".

Emphasizing that the national security cannot be compromised for political ambitions, the Finance Minister said, "The Armed Forces were demoralised by the brazen allegations against the then Chief of the Air Force by the Congress".

"Chor comment by Rahul Gandhi of Congress was repeated several times for political gains; brazenly accusing the Prime Minister is called out for what it is, irresponsible. He should apologise to the nation for misleading the people with blatant lies, even in the Lok Sabha," he said.

Earlier today, a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi passed an order on a batch of petitions seeking review of its December 14, 2018 verdict which had upheld purchase of 36 Rafale jets by NDA government from France.