Rafale row causes commotion in Lok Sabha: Paper planes thrown in House, govt rejects Opposition demand for JPC

The government on Wednesday rejected in the Lok Sabha the Opposition’s demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Rafale fighter jet deal with France, saying there was no corruption, and accused the Congress, “which has a legacy of scams” like Bofors and AugustaWestland, of inventing allegations against a “clean” government. Intervening in the discussion on the controversial deal with the French aircraft manufacturer Dassault, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said there was no need for a JPC since the Supreme Court had already given its verdict on the process, pricing, offset clause and HAL issue after satisfying its conscience. A parliamentary committee can come to a consensus when it comes to policy matters but could become partisan when it comes to investigation, Jaitley said, explaining why the government was ruling out a JPC probe. “Rafale issue is not a policy or administrative or governance matter. It is an investigation into whether it was a clean or an unclean deal. The Supreme Court has said that ‘we have satisfied our conscience’ about pricing, HAL, offset. What will JPC do in an investigation?” Jaitley said and referred to the JPC that went into the kickbacks in the Bofors deal. [caption id=“attachment_4878401” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] “The committee headed by (late) Shankaranand gave a report saying that they were not kickbacks but winding up charges. The JPC whitewashed the fraud of corruption,” he said amid thumping of desks by party members. “And the JPC is now being demanded by those with a legacy of corruption, wanting to invent allegations of corruption as we have given a clean government.” Taking a dig at the Congress, he said: “The conscience of the Supreme Court was satisfied but the election needs of the Congress were not.” The Congress, which has been demanding constitution of a JPC and staging protests in the house, on Monday suddenly offered to face a debate on the issue on which Jaitley had thrown a challenge to the party. Launching a no-holds-barred attack on Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his family, Jaitley said one family in the country whose hands were dipped in corrupt deals was now raking up the issue of corruption in the Rafale deal, which he said was in the interest of national security and the jets were urgently required by the Air Force to strengthen its fighter squadron. “I did not expect to see such kind of ignorance from a party that has ruled the country for 60 years,” he said. Giving details of the Rafale deal, Jaitley said the current government finalised the deal for the fighter aircraft at a much cheaper price than what was negotiated by the UPA government. He said there was a difference between the basic aircraft and the weaponised aircraft. “We have got the basic aircraft at least 9 percent cheaper and weaponised aircraft 20 per cent cheaper than UPA’s agreement.” Rejecting Rahul’s charge that the deal was unilaterally decided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and regular procedures were flouted, Jaitley said all processes were followed including setting up of a Contract Negotiation Committee, Price Negotiation Committee and 74 meetings of defence officials regarding the weaponary requirements. “The deal was finalised in 2016 after it was duly examined by the Defence Acquisition Council, the Defence Ministry and the Cabinet Committee on Security,” he said. He justified why HAL was excluded from the deal saying the demand of the time was swift delivery of aircraft and the HAL required 2.7 times the man-days required by Dassault. “Keeping in mind the urgent need of the Air Force, we could not have waited. And price would have also increased with more time taken to build aircraft.” Jaitley said just as it was in national interest to have a public sector company to build aircraft, it was also national interest to ensure quick supply of aircraft to the Air Force. Countering Rahul’s charge of a particular company getting offset contracts worth Rs 1.3 lakh crore, the minister asked how could that be true when the whole deal was of Rs 58,000 crore with offsets amounting to Rs 29,000 crore — distributed among 100-120 suppliers. Jaitley accused the previous UPA government of dilly dallying on the deal because of the then Defence Minister’s indecisiveness. He made a sarcastic reference to AK Antony by saying that the minister would clear the file “on the one hand” and sought a review “on the other hand”. “One hand belonged to the Air Force and the other belonged to the Congress party.” Rahul Gandhi’s charges Rahul launched a stinging attack in the Lok Sabha on Modi on the Rafale issue, saying he does not have the “guts” to come to Parliament to confront questions and “hides” in his room. The House also witnessed high drama after Rahul sought the Speaker’s permission to play an audio tape, purportedly of a Goa minister, on the Rafale deal. Amid an uproar, which caused brief adjournment of the House proceedings, Rahul said he would not play it and authenticate it, prompting Jaitley to say that he was “scared” as he knew it was false. “This man lies and lies repeatedly,” Jaitley said. The Speaker also disallowed Gandhi’s request to play the clip. Rahul claimed BJP members were “terrified” of the clip in which Goa minister Vishwajit Rane purportedly told somebody that former defence minister Manohar Parrikar had a Rafale file in his bedroom. In his speech, Rahul also referred to Modi’s comments in an interview that no personal allegation was levelled against him in the matter and said this is not true as the “entire nation” is asking him a direct question on the contract for purchase of fighter aircraft. “He (Modi) spoke for 90 minutes in a staged interview but still did not answer questions on the Rafale issue,” Rahul said, reiterating his party’s demand for a JPC probe into the matter. “We demand a JPC probe into matter. There is no reasopn for BJP leaders to feel afraid. The country will get to know that Modi put Rs 30,000 crore in the pockets of ‘double A’. The contract was snatched from HAL (a government-run unit),” he said, alleging corruption in the contract. ‘Double A’ was an apparent reference to Anil Ambani, whom Rahul repeatedly referred to in his speech before Speaker Sumitra Mahajan asked him not to name him as he is not a member of the House. The Congress leader described him as a “dear friend” of Modi’s and a “failed businessman”. His defence firm was registered only 10 days before it got the off-set contract from Rafale, a French firm, Rahul alleged. BJP ally Shiv Sena also demands JPC BJP ally Shiv Sena supported the Opposition demand in Lok Sabha for a JPC probe into the Rafale issue and drew a parallel with the alleged Bofors scam, claiming that people say Rafale aircraft is good but the deal is bad. Speaking in a discussion on the Rafale issue, Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant said if the government speaks of transparency, why it is rejecting the demand for a JPC probe? “We are transparent. Why should we be scared? Our government is good, it is not corrupt, then why should we be scared? Let there be a JPC probe and the truth come out,” he said. AIADMK MPs suspended in Lok Sabha for five sittings In the final five minutes of the Lok Sabha sitting for the day, papers were thrown at Mahajan. She then began reading out the names of the MPs who had disrupted the House. “You have come to the Well of the House and are obstructing the functioning of the House,” Mahajan said. “All of them stand suspended for five consecutive sessions of the House,” she added. Ruckus in Rajya Sabha Meanwhile, the Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day amid sloganeering by agitating AIADMK and DMK members who, in a very unusual move, defied Chair’s orders to withdraw from the House and stayed put near the podium in the post-lunch sitting. Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu — after his appeals to restore order failed on deaf ears and the House had already been adjourned several times — named the agitating members and asked to withdraw from the House for the day under Rule 256 of the proceedings of the House. With inputs from agencies