Bofors was a scam which brought Congress down: Nirmala Sitharaman
New Delhi, Jan 4 (IBNS): The Rafale and Bofors issues emerged as major topics of debates in the Parliament on Friday as the opposition Congress and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman exchanged barbs and countered each other on the floors here.
Sitharaman targeted the Congress and accused it of spreading falsehood and ignoring national security concerns during its tenure at the centre.
Sitharaman said Bofors was a scam which had brought the Congress down from power.
She said Rafale deal will bring Narendra Modi back to power.
"I hate to say this. In the same breath, I do not want to talk of Bofors. Because Bofors was a scam that brought the Congress down," the Defence Minister said during a heated debate.
"Rafale will bring Modi back to make a new India," she said.
Attempting to corner the Congress, Sitharaman said: "National security was at risk but it did not bother them. Their treasury security was important."
“There is a difference between defence dealings and dealing in defence. We don’t do defence dealings. We deal in defence with national security as a priority,” the Indian Minister said.
The Defence Minister's reply came after the Congress accused the Centre of lying before the Supreme Court by citing a "non-existent" CAG report on Rafale deal and demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi reply to the debate in Lok Sabha on the issue.
"The Rafale deal is a Rs 1.30 lakh crore scam. Modi takes 'AA' along in his flight.... There should be a JPC probe since it is a very big scam. It has to be probed in the court of Parliament," Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge had said.
Meanwhile, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi said the Rafale deal will be investigated if the Congress comes to power at the Centre after the Lok Sabha polls this year.
Gandhi was quoted as saying: "Congress will launch an investigation into Rafale scam if voted to power in 2019."
He said: "When PM Modi did a by-pass surgery of the Rafale deal, did Defence Ministry officials object to the new deal? Yes or no?."
Yashwant Sinha, Shourie, Prashant Bhushan move SC seeking review of Rafale verdict:
Former BJP ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, along with advocate Prashant Bhushan, have moved the Supreme Court seeking a review of its Dec 14 verdict in Rafale case that gave the government a clean chit over the allegation of corruption, media reports said.
The plea alleges that the Rafale verdict relies upon "patently incorrect claims" made by the Centre in an unsigned note submitted in the Supreme Court. They also sought that the plea be heard in an open court.
The Supreme Court had earlier ruled that there was no reason to doubt the decision-making process behind the Rafale jet deal, thus absolving the government of the charge levelled by the Congress and few other individuals that there was an overpriced deal for the purchase of 56 Rafale jets from France involving Rs 59,000 crore.
It was alleged that the deal was struck between Anil Ambani's company and the French jet-maker Dassault.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi had held that “broadly the processes have been followed” and that India cannot remain unprepared in skies when its adversaries have acquired the most modern fighter planes.
“We are satisfied that there is no occasion to really doubt the process, and even if minor deviations have occurred, that would not result in either setting aside the contract or requiring a detailed scrutiny by the court,” the bench, which also comprised Justices SK Kaul and KM Joseph, said.
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