Kalaburagi, Sept 28: Opposition Leader in Lok Sabha M Mallikarjun Kharge has defended his party leaders including actress-turned-politician Ramya who had attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi by calling him a chor (thief) in connection with the controversial Rafale aircraft deal. He said that none of his party leaders had attacked the Prime Minister personally.
“Yes, we called him chor in connection with the aircraft deal. There is large-scale corruption in the deal. Former French President François Hollande has claimed that his government had no say in choosing Anil Ambani’s defence company for the deal. Considering the seriousness of the allegations, Mr. Modi should have responded to it. He is, however, not doing so. He is fielding his spokespersons to respond. Since the Congress is clear about Modi’s ill-intentioned involvement in the deal for helping a private company at the cost of the nation, the word was used. What is wrong in it?”
Interacting with media representatives at his residence here on Friday, Mr. Kharge wondered why Mr. Modi was afraid of handing over the issue to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for a probe if his hands were really clean.
“We had constituted a JPC when objections were raised against the Bofors deal. Why are you [the Union government] afraid of handing over the Rafale deal to the JPC if everything in the deal is fair? The fact, however, is that the deal is a huge scam involving crores of rupees. Mr. Modi forced the French government to accept Anil Ambani’s firm as an offset partner in the deal. That is why they are hesitating to form a JPC to probe it. There is nothing wrong in calling Modi a chor,” he said.
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