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Rafale deal: Rahul Gandhi’s JPC challenge to Arun Jaitley’s charge of peddling lies

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Rafale deal: Rahul Gandhi’s JPC challenge to Arun Jaitley’s charge of peddling lies

The controversy over Rafale deal revived once again on Wednesday with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Congress led by Rahul Gandhi sparring over the issue.

Posing 15 questions to Congress party, Arun Jaitley had termed Congress’ charges on the deal to purchase Rafale fighter aircraft as “complete falsehood” and said the cost per aircraft under the deal finalised by Narendra Modi government was in fact much lower than that under the deal that was being negotiated by UPA government.

He also countered Congress’ allegation that the government had benefited Anil Ambani’s Reliance group, saying “Government of India has no contract whatsoever with any private industry in relation with the Rafale aircraft supplies.”

Jaitley accused Rahul Gandhi and Congress of “peddling untruth” on the Rafale fighter jet deal.

In response, Rahul Gandhi had announced the 24-hour challenge to Jaitley to set up a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) into what he called the “great Rafale robbery”. He said he would wait for a response for 24 hours.

Unrelenting, he today posted a tart reminder to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley with six hours left in his 24-hour deadline to set up an all-party lawmakers’ panel.

Rahul Gandhi tweeted: “Dear Mr Jaitley, Less than 6 hrs left for your deadline on the #Rafale JPC to run out. Young India is waiting. I hope you’re busy convincing Modi Ji and Anil Ambani Ji about why they should listen to you & approve this! @ArunJaitley”

The Congress president also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Anil Ambani, without naming the Reliance Group chairman. He accused PM Modi of “protecting his friend”:

“Mr Jaitley, thanks for bringing the nation’s attention back to the GREAT #RAFALE ROBBERY! How about a Joint Parliamentary Committee to sort it out? Problem is, your Supreme Leader is protecting his friend, so this may be inconvenient. Do check & revert in 24 hrs. We’re waiting!”

Later, BJP president Amit Shah joined in the sparring, describing JPC as ‘Jhoothi Party Congress’ and accusing Rahul Gandhi of pushing “lies” to fool the nation. “But the nation’s IQ is higher than yours!” he tweeted.

At the core of the controversy is the allegation levelled by Rahul Gandhi that the price of the jets is higher than what was negotiated by the previous Congress-led government for 126 aircraft. He also alleges that the deal was sealed at a higher price at a loss to the taxman to favour “a businessman”.

Anil Ambani has rejected Rahul Gandhi’s allegations and emphasised that the government had no role in the Rafale-manufacturing French firm Dassault picking up his company as a local partner.

Jaitley alleged that “Rahul Gandhi’s misadventure” was seriously compromising national security. “This is like a kindergarten or primary school debate ‘Well, I was paying 500 something and you’ve paid 1,600 something’. That’s the argument being given; it shows how little understanding Rahul Gandhi has,” Arun Jaitley told news agency ANI. “Every single word in the Congress’s allegation is factually false,” he said.

Congress has dismissed finance minister Arun Jaitley’s defence of Rafale deal as “an obvious attempt at obfuscation” when his government was faced with the Reserve Bank of India data on demonetisation.

AICC spokesperson Manish Tewari on Wednesday said the finance minister should, instead, simply answer two questions: Since the joint statement by Prime Minister of India and President of France “states the Rafale aircraft and associated system and weapons will be delivered on the same configuration as had been tested and approved by Indian Air Force”, why can’t the government state whether IAF at all re-evaluated the aircraft specifications since UPA closed negotiations and before the Modi regime purchased Rafale in 2015 and “why can’t the government simply release the price at which it purchased the Rafale jets in 2015 and the price at which the UPA government had closed the negotiations in 2012?”

Secondly, the Congress asked Jaitley, “If the prime minister, the finance minister and the non-functioning defence minister have nothing to hide on the Rafale deal, why was the government shying away from accepting the opposition demand to constitute a JPC to probe the Rafale matter?”

Tewari questioned the timing of Jaitley’s offensive. He said the timing of Jaitley’s defence of Rafale “exactly at that point in time when the RBI was releasing demonetisation data… it would not be remiss to say that the Finance Minister was trying to cover up one scandal with another scandal”.

“This is a very funny government,” Tewari alleged. “The FM speaks on defence affairs, the non-functioning defence minister holds forth on finance affairs. The FM writes blog on legal matters and law minister holds forth on many issues in a manner that only he understands what he meant. And the railway minister doubles up as FM. Collectively, responsibility in this government is such that no minister has responsibility of his ministry’s matters.”

Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma rejected Jaitley’s contention that the government had nothing to do with the selection of partners for offset supplies. He said vendors have to disclose how the offset contracts would be discharged under the defence procurement policy.

“You left out HAL, violated the Official Secrets Act, did not seek the mandate of CCS and conducted no price determination for reducing the aircraft purchase from 126 to 36 aircraft. So there should be a probe into this. They may deny whatever, but the truth will come out,” Sharma said.

2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s son Karan gets BJP Lok Sabha ticket from Kaiserganj

Karan Singh Bhushan was on December 13, 1990. He competed at the national level in double trap shooting. He has a daughter and a son. Karan Singh Bhushan completed his Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) and law from Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Avadh University.

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BJP on Thursday dropped sitting Kaiserganj MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has been accused of sexual harassment by women wrestlers and gave a ticket to his son, Karan Bhushan Singh. Karan Bhushan, Brij Bhushan’s younger son, is the president of the Uttar Pradesh Wrestling Association. He is also the head of The Cooperative Bank in Nawabganj in Gonda district.

Karan Singh Bhushan was on December 13, 1990. He competed at the national level in double trap shooting. He has a daughter and a son. Karan Singh Bhushan completed his Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) and law from Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Avadh University.

He has also holds a diploma in business management from Australia. Karan Bhushan Singh is presently the president of the Uttar Pradesh wrestling association. Earlier he was the senior vice president of the UP wrestling association. Elections will be take place in Kaiserganj in the 5th phase of Lok Sabha elections on May 20. Karan Bhushan Singh is likely to file his nomination from Kaiserganj on May 3.

There has been a lot of speculation and suspense on Brij Bhushan Sharan seat this time as the former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief, who is also a 6-term MP, had been accused of sexual harassment by some of the India’s top wrestlers.

Many female wrestlers, including medallists, protested against the BJP leader and demanded his arrest over the charges of sexual harassment while he was serving the position of the WFI president. Wrestlers, including Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia, sat on a protest at the Jantar Mantar and demanded action against the Kaiseganj MP.

The Delhi Police later registered a case against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh under Sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354D (stalking), 354A (sexual harassment) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC, on June 15, 2023. But he was granted bail on July 20, 2023.

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2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Rahul Gandhi criticises BJP, PM Modi for JD(S) alliance, seeking votes for a mass rapist

Rahul Gandhi was addressing an election rally in Karnataka’s Shivmogga where he said that PM Modi is seeking votes for a mass rapist. The Congress leader added that Narendra Modi, from a packed stage, supports that rapist and said: if the people of Karnataka vote for this rapist, it will help him.

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Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said that the sex video  case involving Prajwal Revanna, the member of Parliament from Karnataka’s Hassan, is not just a mere sex scandal but of mass rape. He also criticised the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the JD(S) and seeking votes for a mass rapist.

Rahul Gandhi was addressing an election rally in Karnataka’s Shivmogga where he said that PM Modi is seeking votes for a mass rapist. Prajwal Revanna raped a number of women and made their sex videos. The Congress leader added that Narendra Modi, from a packed stage, supports that rapist and said: if the people of Karnataka vote for this rapist, it will help him. Gandhi accused the PM Modi of helping Revanna, former PM HD Deve Gowda’s grandson, escape from India.

Gandhi said even when Prajwal Revanna raped a number of women, the prime minister did not stop him from going to Germany. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has all the machinery, yet he allowed the mass rapist to flee to Germany. He took a sarcastic dig a PM Modi and said this is Modi’s guarantee. The Congress leader asserted that whether it’s a corrupt leader or a mass rapist, the BJP will always protect him.

Prajwal Revanna, the sitting MP from Hassan and the grandson of former PM HD Deve Gowda, has been accused of being in purported sex tapes. A number of pen drives allegedly contain his sexual assault videos which were circulated in Hassan, the Lok Sabha constituency from where he is the BJP-JD (S) candidate.

Most of the sex videos were recorded by Prajwal Revanna in his office and house. Initially, the Gowda family and the BJP termed the tapes as being doctored to tarnish the image of the family in elections but later, HD Kumaraswamy distanced himself from the tapes saying the police was investigating the matter.

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2024 Lok Sabha Elections

PM Modi takes a dig at Rahul Gandhi, says Pakistan wants him as Prime Minister

PM Modi said Pakistan is eager to make the prince the Prime Minister and everyone knows that the Congress is a fan of Pakistan. The prime minister further added that the partnership between Pakistan and Congress has now been completely exposed.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a veiled dig at Rahul Gandhi on Thursday. He was addressing an election rally in Gujarat’s Anand where PM Modi said, Congress is dying here and Pakistanis are crying. He further added that Pakistani leaders want to make shehzada of Congress the prime minister of India.

He said everyone should look at the coincidence that today the Congress is getting weak in India and Pakistani leaders at the same time are praying for the grand old party. PM Modi said Pakistan is eager to make the prince the Prime Minister and everyone knows that the Congress is a fan of Pakistan. The prime minister further added that the partnership between Pakistan and Congress has now been completely exposed.

A few days earlier Pakistani leader Chaudhary Fawad Hussain had shared a video on X which featured Rahul Gandhi, in which the Congress leader is seen targetting the BJP and PM Modi. In the video shared by the former Pakistan minister, rahul Gandhi can be seen attacking the BJP government over the invitees at Ram Mandir’s Pran Pratishtha ceremony.

The edited video shows Rahul Gandhi speaking about the Ram Mandir’s inauguration and charging the BJP government of sidelining the interests of the poor and youth.  PM Modi further added at the Anand rally that Congress Shahzade is dancing around with the Constitution on their foreheads. But for 75 years, this did not apply to all parts of Hindustan. The Constitution was not applicable in Kashmir, where Article 370 was like a wall that the BJP government had demolished.

The Prime Minister said it is his guarantee that he will work 24×7 to make India a developed country by 2047. He pointed out that in the last 10 years, the BJP government has given tap water connections to 14 crore houses, while the Congress gave just 3 crore houses in 60 years.

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