New Delhi:
Congress chief Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the stolen Rafale files on Thursday. Addressing media in New Delhi, Gandhi said that ‘gayab ho gaya’ is the new slogan of the Modi government. From jobs to issues, everything is missing, Gandhi said slamming the NDA government at the Centre. This comes a day after Attorney General KK Venugopal admitted that some Rafale files were stolen from the Ministry of Defence. The twist in the complicated case came when during the Supreme Court hearing, Venugopal said that, “certain documents were stolen from the Defence Ministry either by public servants and an investigation is pending. We are dealing with defence purchases which involve security of the state. It is a very sensitive case.” Venugopal made the statement when Prashant Bhushan, one of the petitioners, tried to submit an eight-page note. At that point, the Attorney General objected to it and said that those note files were stolen from Defence Ministry and probe into that is underway.
“This would be an offence under Official Secrets Act. Action might be taken against two newspapers which published. Action is also warranted against Senior counsel These are matters which involve the very security of the State,” Venugopal added.
“On one hand you are saying the documents are missing, so this means the documents are genuine and its clearly written in them that PMO was carrying out parallel negotiations. Yes, of course take action on those involved in this missing documents case but also initiate an inquiry on PMO making parallel negotiations,” Gandhi said. “Rafale files disappeared, it was said that an investigation should be conducted against you (media) because Rafale files disappeared; but the person who was involved in Rs 30,000 crore scam, no investigation against him,” asked Gandhi.
Yesterday also, Gandhi had tweeted saying “there are enough evidence to prosecute PM Modi in the Rafale scam.” The Congress chief's attack came on a day when the government said in the Supreme Court that documents related to the Rafale fighter jet deal have been stolen from the Defence Ministry and threatened The Hindu newspaper with action under the Official Secrets Act for publishing articles based on them.
"The corruption and malfeasance in Rafale deal is out in the open. PM Modi misused his office to give benefits to Dassault Aviation and caused loss to the public exchequer," Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala had said.
"It is now crystal clear that blatant and massive corruption has taken place in the Rafale deal. It is undoubtedly established that Modi misused his office as Prime Minister to grant undue benefit to Dassault Aviation and caused a loss to public exchequer," he further said.
