Rahul Gandhi’s lie-manufacturing factory serves yet another lie: Prakash Javadekar

The BJP has rubbished the charges made by Rahul Gandhi in the wake of fresh revelations in the Rafale jet deal and dubbed his remarks as a “yet another lie” from his “lie manufacturing factory”.

“The lie-manufacturing factory of Rahul Gandhi continues to operate and he has served us yet another lie. We absolutely reject his allegations,” Union minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters.

The Prime Minister’s Office was directly involved in negotiations with the French on the Rafale deal and Modi was guilty in the scam, Congress president Rahul Gandhi had said on Friday in a fresh attack on the government over the fighter jet agreement.

He demanded Rahul Gandhi should tell them as to which aircraft company officials he had met during his recent visit to Europe.

“Rahul Gandhi and the Congress are working to get the Rafale deal scrapped. They are playing in the hands of foreign forces and companies with vested interest,” Javadekar alleged.

“The Supreme Court has said there is no scam in the Rafale deal. Rahul Gandhi does not accept it. Repeating a lie would not make it true,” he said.

He said the Congress-led UPA government had finalised the Rafale deal in 2011 but did not go ahead with it because “it had not got any commission.”

It is an open and shut case, Rahul had declared, citing a report in The Hindu newspaper claiming the defence ministry raised strong objections to “parallel discussions” conducted by the PMO during the negotiations over the Rs 59,000 crore Rafale deal between India and France.

“We have been saying that the PM is directly involved in the Rafale scam. Now, with today’s media, it is in black and white that the PM himself was carrying out a parallel negotiation with the French,” Gandhi had said at a press conference. “The parallel discussions by the PMO weakened the position of the ministry of defence and the Indian negotiating team.”

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Friday also dismissed the media report on the Rafale jet deal as “flogging a dead horse” and accused the opposition of playing into the hands of multinational companies and vested interests.

“They are flogging a dead horse. Periodical enquiries by the PMO cannot be construed as interference,” the minister said during the Zero Hour in Lok Sabha.