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Rahul Gandhi has a witty take on Rafale deal probe. It's a dig at PM Modi
The controversy around the acquisition of Rafale fighter jets by India is set to be sparked again with the probe ordered in France as Congress has termed the development a vindication to the charges levelled by Rahul Gandhi.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is ready with his witty jibe at the government after a French judge on Friday was tasked to lead a "highly sensitive" judicial investigation into Rafale fighter jet deal with India. A French investigative website Mediapart said the probe has been ordered to check the alleged "corruption and favouritism" in the ₹59,000 crore deal between France and India.
Taking to Twitter, Gandhi shared the Hindi idiom "Chor ki daadhi mein tinka" which translates to a guilty conscience needs no accuser.
In his previous digs, Gandhi used the term 'thief' to corner the prime minister. After he was pulled up the Supreme Court, the Congress leader said he will stand by his “Chowkidar Chor Hai” jibe as it is a reality and continue using the slogan against PM Modi. However, he apologised to the Supreme Court as he felt he had made a mistake.
“There is a process is going on in the Supreme Court and I made a comment attributed to SC so I apologised. I did not apologise to the BJP or Modi ji. ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ will remain our slogan,” he said.
The Wayanad MP's campaign theme in 2019 Lok Sabha elections focused on the alleged irregularities in the Rafale deal and he coined the “Chowkidar chor hai” slogan directed at PM Modi.
The controversy around the acquisition of Rafale fighter jets by India is set to be sparked again with the probe ordered in France as Congress has termed the development a vindication to the charges levelled by Rahul Gandhi.
Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala urged the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to come forward and order a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Rafale deal.
"Corruption in the Rafale deal has come out clearly now. The stand of the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi has been vindicated today after the French government has ordered a probe," he said addressing the reporters.
The Congress has demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the Rafale deal, saying it is the only way forward to find the truth about "corruption" in the purchase of the fighter jets.
The Congress' demand came after French investigative website Mediapart reported that a French judge has been appointed to lead a "highly sensitive" judicial investigation into alleged "corruption and favouritism" in the ₹59,000 crore Rafale fighter jet deal with India.
The French publication has said that the probe into the inter-governmental deal signed in 2016 was formally opened on June 14.
"A judicial probe into suspected corruption has been opened in France over the 7.8-billion-euro sale to India in 2016 of 36 Dassault-built Rafale fighter aircraft," the Mediapart reported.
Mediapart journalist Yann Philippin, who filed a series of reports on the deal, said a first complaint was "buried" in 2019 by a former PNF chief.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government had inked a ₹59,000-crore deal on September 23, 2016, to procure 36 Rafale jets from French aerospace major Dassault Aviation after a nearly seven-year exercise to procure 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) for the Indian Air Force did not fructify during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime.
