Rahul flags graft charges in military spare parts deal

Rahul Gandhi on Thursday led the Congress charge against the Modi government over reports of purported kickbacks paid in the procurement of spare parts for military aircraft and demanded that the Prime Minister take “urgent” action against corrupt officials.

Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rahul said: “Ministry Of Defence, India (MODI) officials, accused of making millions of $'s in kickbacks via Dubai by Ukrainian Govt in AN32 deal.”

Rahul tagged a media report that claimed that Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau had sent a request to the Ministry of Home Affairs seeking legal assistance in its probe into the kickbacks. “Modi ji, as our self-proclaimed chokidar, I urge you to take immediate action against your corrupt MODI officials,” the Congress president said on Twitter.

Meanwhile, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said he was not aware of any letter from Ukraine's anti-corruption bureau.

The Congress fielded senior leaders Manish Tewari and Pramod Tiwari to step up the attack on the government.

Tewari said the graft allegations against defence ministry officials were serious and demanded a government response to the allegations “from the highest levels”.

“Since the honourable defence minister (Nirmala Sitharaman) holds the fort on every issue, will take time out and respond to something which pertains to her ministry also,” Tewari, former union minister said.

Seeking to pin down the government on its claims of probity in public life, the Congress leaders said the defence ministry should have made public the request from Ukraine voluntarily.

“We do hope that like the Rafale purchase, the government will not hide behind any alleged confidentiality clauses in order to sweep this matter under the carpet,” Tewari said.