The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held protests across Uttar Pradesh (UP) on Saturday, demanding an apology from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after the Supreme Court dismissed the Rafale review petitions.
“Now that the country’s top court has cleared the air on the subject, I guess logically and morally, Rahul Gandhi should apologise,” UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh said.
In Lucknow, BJP leaders marched from the state BJP office till the Mahatma Gandhi statue and submitted a memorandum to administrative officials. The memorandum addressed to President Ram Nath Kovind demanded a public apology from the Congress leader.
Protests were also held in Rae Bareli, the Lok Sabha constituency of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Amethi, the Congress bastion that BJP breached in the 2019 LS polls.
The BJP leaders said it was time that the former Congress chief apologised for what they said, “maligning” the PM’s image.
On Thursday, the apex court had refused to change its December 2018 verdict that dismissed pleas seeking a court monitored probe of alleged irregularities in the Rs 59,000 crore (Rs 590 billion) Rafale fighter deal with France’s Dassault Aviation.
Immediately after, while the BJP pressed for an apology, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had tweeted that the apex court’s judgment on the issue had in fact opened the door for a probe into the Rafale deal.
{{/usCountry}}Immediately after, while the BJP pressed for an apology, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had tweeted that the apex court’s judgment on the issue had in fact opened the door for a probe into the Rafale deal.
{{/usCountry}}“The SC made it clear that the demand to re-look into the case was not required. The top court had in December 2018 itself cleared the deal. The lies of the Congress party once again were exposed even though Rahul Gandhi continuously tried to mislead the country by building a false narrative on the issue during the 2019 LS polls which the BJP went on to win. For engaging in such dirty politics, Rahul Gandhi must apologise,” UP BJP general secretary Vijay Bahadur Pathak said.