NEW DELHI - India’s main opposition Congress party on Wednesday approached the country’s independent auditor Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), seeking probe into Rafale purchases.
A delegation of the Congress party leaders approached CAG and presented a memorandum to the auditor seeking probe. “We submitted a detailed memorandum along with enclosures which very clearly establishes irregularities in Rafale purchase,” a senior Congress party leader Anand Sharma told media after meeting CAG. “We hope that the matter will be looked into by CAG.”
The Congress party alleged the ruling BJP has indulged in a gross corruption while finalizing the Rafale deal, and demanded a joint parliamentary committee probe. Last month, two former BJP ministers Arun Shourie and Yashwant Sinha, called the Rafale deal a “monumental criminal misconduct” orchestrated by the ruling government.
The trio described the deal as “biggest defense scam ever,” and accused the BJP-led government of “compromising national security.”
India in 2016 signed a deal with France for purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets in a bid to bolster the country’s military image.
The Congress party on Tuesday accused incumbent Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of “suppressing facts” on the Rafale deal.
It asked the government to publish “the price of the Congress-UPA’s deal of 126 aircraft and the price of Modi government’s 36 aircraft deal including the price of each aircraft.”
