New Delhi, Nov 14 (UNI) BJP on Thursday said the Supreme Court verdict on Rafale vindicated the government stand and demanded that the Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi apologise to the Nation and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
‘Rahul Gandhi needs to apologise to the country, having lost in all three courts — the first appeal during the entire Rafale hearing, second at the public platform during the LS elections and today, during the review, you lost again,’ Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a press conference at party headquarters here.
Gandhi must apologise to the IAF as the Congress ignored its demand for 30 years, the BJP leader said.
He demanded to know at whose behest Mr Gandhi launched this campaign to malign the image of ‘honest’ Prime Minister Modi adding that Gandhi stooped to a new low in political discourse.
Prasad said the whole campaign of malign was shrouded in deeply suspicious circumstances,
Lambasting the principal opposition Congress, he said ‘Congress has a chequered history of taking a sub-contract in a defence contract.’
Taking potshots at the Congress ex-president, the BJP leader alleged that Gandhi misled the country over Rafale pricing.
‘On April 29, 2018, he said that the cost of Rafale was Rs 700 crore. In July 2018, it cost Rs 520 crore. On August 10, 2018, he tagged it at Rs 540 crore. On August 11, it was changed to Rs 520 crore again’, Mr Prasad said, adding that ‘ You can see how the cost has fluctuated in his rallies. At one place, he even said that the cost was Rs 570.’
Prasad said Gandhi gave an apology to save himself from contempt proceedings and the court has accepted that by cautioning him.
Gandhi also lied in Parliament that the current President of France Emmanuel Macron had allowed him to disclose details of the deal, Prasad said adding that the French government had to issue a statement that Gandhi was lying.
