'Narendra Modi lacks guts to answer questions on Rafale': Rahul Gandhi accuses PM of hiding behind AIADMK MPs

After Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala claimed that as per an audio clip, Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar lost his cool at a recent cabinet meeting and that he could not be removed from his post because he knows many secrets of the Rafale deal, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi in Parliament accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of having “no guts” to answer his questions over the contract to purchase fighter jets from the French company Dassault. Rahul accused Modi of “hiding behind’ All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) MPs and said he could not even come to the Parliament to answer questions about the deal. Rahul said Modi claimed during his ANI interview that nobody was accusing him of wrongdoing on Rafale, but “that wasn’t true”. “The nation is asking a direct question on Rafale, but the prime minister could not answer a straight question even in an hour-long staged interview,” Rahul said. [caption id=“attachment_5549111” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Congress president Rahul Gandhi. Twitter @INCIndia[/caption] “There are three pillars of the Rafale deal,” Rahul said. " The first pillar is the process, the second is pricing and the third pillar, which is also perhaps the most interesting one, is of paisa patronage.” Rahul then sought Speaker Sumitra Mahajan’s permission to play an audio clip wherein a Goa minister is allegedly heard quoting Parrikar say that he has Rafale files in his bedroom. However, Mahajan denied Rahul the permission to play the audio clip after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stepped in. After Rahul sought to read the transcript of the purported statement, Mahajan said the clip cannot be played in the House nor could the Congress chief read out the transcript until he gave in writing that the clip is verified. “Okay, I won’t read it since you are so afraid of it,” Rahul told the Speaker. Jaitley retorted, “This man lies continuously. Earlier, he presented an entirely fabricated conversation between himself and a French politician, now he is lying about this tape. If you are so sure then authenticate this clip in writing and face expulsion from the House if you are proved wrong. You are afraid because it is fabricated.” “When the Congress party said that they wanted to take up Rafale issue once again, we assumed they would have something substantive to say. But the lead speaker of the Congress has disappointed us,” Jaitley added.