Rafale Kickbacks Charge: Revelation expose UPA; they broke kickback records, says BJP
Rename INC as 'I Need Commission', says BJP
FollowThe Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday hit back at the Congress party with regard to the revelations by French media outlet Mediapart over the Rafale fighter aircraft deal. The BJP placed on record documents to prove how corruption involved in the deal was during the United Progressive Alliance government's tenure.
Addressing media persons, BJP National Spokesperson Sambit Patra quoted the Mediapart report which said that Dassault Aviation which was shown as a code word 'D' gave at least 7.5 million Euros (Rs 65 crore) commission to a middleman named Sushen Mohan Gupta for 36 Rafale aircraft.Â
"Sushen is an old player who was also kingpin in the Agusta Westland scam. The same commission agent was involved in the Rafale deal between 2007 and 2012. This is no coincidence," Sambit said.
"The UPA government kept delaying the deal. It is now coming to light that the delay was not over negotiations but over commissions. UPA government did not conclude the agreement, but there was an agreement of the commission," he added.
"Commission was payable at the rate of 40 per cent of the (Rafale) deal. Congress has broken all world records for commission rates. Money was taken and delivered. Favouritism was the part and parcel of the UPA government. INC must be renamed from Indian National Congress to 'I Need Commission'. During UA tenure, there was a deal within a deal," Sambit alleged.
The BJP sought clarification from senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who has been aggressively raising the issue since the 2019 elections. However, the Supreme Court had given a clean chit to the government and ruled out any wrongdoing.
Congress must explain where did all the commission between 2007 and 2012 go, Patra said, adding that whenever there is an investigation -- which the Congress is seeking at the moment -- and they are caught, they talk about vendetta politics
Earlier, the Congress party has alleged that there is a dubious nexus between Modi, the Central Bureau of Investigation. and the Enforcement Directorate. Accusing the BJP government of undermining that national security, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said there is an attempt by the Narendra Modi-led government to bury the melting pot of corruption in the multi-crore Rafale deal.
The deal for procurement of 36 Rafale jets, was an inter-governmental agreement, incurring $8.7 billion. As per Mediapart despite the existence of these documents, the Indian agencies did not pursue the case.
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