Tejashwi dares Modi to form JPC on Rafale

Bihar opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav on Friday dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to form a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the purchase of 36 Rafale jet fighters in a ready-to-fly condition from France.

"If Modi is honest and his government is holy, why he is not forming the JPC to probe the purchase of the 36 Rafale jet fighter jets," Tejashwi Yadav told the media at Patna airport on his return from Mumbai.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader was reacting to a Supreme Court verdict on Friday that dismissed four petitions seeking a court-monitored probe on the issue holding that the decision making process was not in doubt and it cannot go into the question of pricing and choice of offset Indian partner by the French aircraft manufacturer Dassault.

He said the petitions were filed by individuals, not by the Congress, RJD or any political party. "We are demanding a JPC probe into the Rafale deal, it is our old demand. We will not sit silent but intensify our agitation for the probe."

He said the Bharatiya Janata Party should not be happy as the opposition will take the issue to people's court.

--IANS

ik/in/sed