New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday accused the Modi government of conducting an operation to “cover-up” corruption in the Rafale fighter jet deal and asked why it did not initiate investigation into the role of a middleman despite recovering incriminating documents from him.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera also alleged that the BJP government has sacrificed national security, jeopardised the interests of the Indian Air Force and caused loss worth thousands of crores of rupees to the state exchequer.
French investigative journal Mediapart in fresh revelations in a report has exposed how middleman Sushen Gupta got hold of confidential documents belonging to the Indian Negotiating Team (INT) in 2015 from the ministry of defence, he said.
The documents detailed the stance of Indian negotiators during the final lap of negotiation and in particular how they calculated the price of the aircraft. This gave clear advantage to Dassault Aviation (Rafale), Khera claimed, citing the Mediapart report.
“The ‘operation cover-up’ by the Modi government to bury the melting pot of corruption, kickbacks and collusion in Rafale deal is once again exposed,” he said.
“The BJP government undermined national security, jeopardised the interests of the Indian Air Force and caused loss worth thousands of crores to our exchequer,” Khera said at a press confrence.
