Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who has repeatedly accused the Centre of corruption in the Rafale jet deal on Saturday made a fresh attack on the government over the Rafale fighter aircraft deal, prompting Union Minister Piyush Goyal to hit back saying he is welcome to fight the 2024 general elections on the issue.
Gandhi quoted a source-based news report which claimed that the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has submitted its performance audit on defence offset contracts to the government with no mention of any offset deals related to the purchase of Rafale aircraft.
“Money was stolen from the Indian exchequer in Rafale,” Gandhi alleged in his tweet without elaborating.
In a sharp retort, Goyal, who is Railway Minister and a senior BJP leader, claimed that many in the Congress have confided that Gandhi’s obsession with Rafale is damaging the party.
“Many of Rahul Gandhi’s Congress colleagues confide in private that Rahul’s obsession with Rafale to wash off his father’s sins is damaging the party. But if someone is wanting to self-destruct, who are we to complain? We invite him to fight the 2024 elections on Rafale,” Goyal tweeted.
Reacting to the controversy, Sitharaman said the CAG report on Defence Offset Performance will be tabled in the forthcoming session of Parliament.
As per the report, the Defence Ministry told the CAG that Dassault would be sharing details related to offset contracts only after three years of the deal. Notably, Reliance Defence of Anil Ambani group had bagged an offset contract as part of the Rafale fighter jets deal.
India last month received its first batch of new multi-role fighter aircraft in two decades with the arrival of five Rafale jets.
The Rafale is a twin-jet fighter aircraft able to operate from both an aircraft carrier and a shore base. The fully versatile Rafale is able to carry out all combat aviation missions
Earlier, Rahul Gandhi asked Centre three questions on Rafale after first batch of fighter jets lands in India, he repeated the questions that he had asked the government ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
