Rahul asks Modi, Jaitley to 'stop lying', reiterates Rafale JPC demand

Dismissing Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's latest defence of the government over the choosing of an offset partner in the Rafale deal, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday asked him and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "stop lying" and instead order for a JPC probe.

"Jetlie's (sic) specialty is his ability to spin "2 truths", or lies, with fake self-righteousness and indignation to defend the indefensible.

"It's high time he, the RM (Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman) and our Prime Minister stop lying and call a JPC (Joint Parliamentary Committee) to establish the full, uncorrupted truth about the Rafale scam," Gandhi said on Twitter.

Gandhi's remarks came in reply to Jaitley's social media posts, wherein he questioned the veracity of former French President Francois Hollande's claims regarding a private firm becoming an offset partner in the jet deal at the instance of the Modi government.

Iterating that there was "no partnership as suggested by the former French President", Jaitley even found a link between Gandhi's earlier tweet and Hollande's assertions.

"It is no coincidence that on April 30 Rahul Gandhi had tweeted that "globalised corruption. This Rafale aircraft really does fly far and fast! It's also going to drop some big bunker buster bombs in the next couple of weeks.

"The former French President's first statement rhymes with Rahul Gandhi's prediction," Jaitley said in his blogspot referring to Hollande who was quoted in an article by a French website as claiming that the Indian government had asked the French government to nominate Reliance Defence as its India partner in the deal.

--IANS

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