Rafale: Cong says 'Operation Cover Up' is on; BJP says INC is 'I Need Commission'

Congress targeted PM Modi alleging an 'Operation Cover Up' to 'bury the black melting pot of corruption'

Congress and BJP on Tuesday sparred over a French media report on the Rafale deal that the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) sat on evidence of "secret commissions" paid during the UPA regime and middleman managing to get hold of Ministry of Defence documents during the first Narendra Modi government.

The Opposition Congress targeted Prime Minister Modi alleging an 'Operation Cover Up' to "bury the black melting pot of corruption, kickback and collusion" while the ruling BJP hit back saying "Indian National Congress should be renamed as I Need Commission".

Congress asked the BJP to explain why CBI Director Alok Verma was shunted out of the CBI days after the agency received evidence against suspected middleman Sushen Gupta from Mauritius on the Rafale deal and why the ED did not move further after recovering top secret documents on Rafale from Gupta.

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Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who has been alleging corruption in the multi-billion dollar deal, tweeted tagging a media report on the new revelations by French portal Mediapart. "When truth is with you on every step, why the need to worry? My dear Congress workers, keep fighting against the corrupt government, don't stop, don't get tired, don't be afraid," his post read.

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi said, "On the false pretext of fighting black money, the BJP put the entire country on queue. Under the BJP government, there is a queue of black-listed companies to hide their corrupt exploits."

Party spokesperson Pawan Khera said the BJP government "jeopardised" national interest, caused loss of thousands of crores of rupees to the exchequer and "every revelation further exposed murkier affairs and every single piece of the puzzle goes to the Prime Minister's doorstep".

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra accused Rahul of spreading "canard, disinformation and lies" and said corruption has become "homeless" after the BJP came to power and its address is 10 Janpath.

Asking Rahul to respond to the report about the "secret commissions" paid to Gupta when the UPA was in power, Patra said, "it will not be an exaggeration to say that the INC be renamed as 'I Need Commission'...Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Robert Vadra…. all say that I need commission."

Addressing a press conference, Khera asked why no action was initiated after top-secret documents on the deal obtained allegedly by Gupta in 2015 were recovered from his premises during a raid.

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He claimed that documents related to benchmark price, records related to the deliberations of Indian Negotiation Team (INT), excel sheet on the calculation of price prepared by the Ministry of Defence and the letter written by Eutrocopter offering 20 per cent discount were recovered from Gupta.

"Why didn't the ED pursue the lead? What was the worry, the compelling reason that forced the government not to investigate it? Why no action was taken against Dassault or Gupta when it was found that it was in the wrong? It endangered national security, it was sedition, gross violation of the Official Secrets Act," he said.

He said the investigation agencies were in possession of documents related to "secret commissions" paid by Dassault to Gupta since October 2018 and asked in the last 36 months why the CBI did not take action.

"Why keep it under the carpet? A complaint on the deal was filed on October 4, 2018 and the government received documents from Mauritius on October 11, 2018. On October 23, 2018, CBI Director Alok Verma was removed. What is the link? Why was he shunted out?" he asked.

Khera also alleged that not only Modi personally got the integrity pact removed from the deal, he also did not go for the provision of technology transfer to India, which were part of the deal inked by the UPA government.

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