The Congress party on Monday continued to launch an offensive against Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at Centre over Rafale fighter-jet deal and said that it is hard to keep track of government's lies.
The Rafale controversy took a turn last week after former French president Francois Hollande claimed that the Indian government proposed Reliance Defence's name as the offset partner for Dassault Aviation.
Demanding answers from Prime Minister, the grand-old-party has also accused Modi, the Finance Minister and the Defence Minister of 'lying on the issue'.
On Monday, in a fresh jibe at Nirmala Sitharaman over her statements on Rafale, the Congress party tweeted a video with a hashtag #ChorPMChupHai.
"It’s really hard to keep track of the Modi Govt.’s lies on the Rafale Scam, so here’s a quick reminder of the big ones. No confusion on who’s the puppet master here!," said Congress in a tweet from the party's official handle.
Congress also asked why are Modi's ministers doing all the lying. "PM Modi, the truth will 'set you free'," reads another tweet.
Meanwhile, a delegation of senior Congress leaders met the Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) on Monday and demanded registration of a case in alleged corruption in the Rafale fighter jet deal.
The delegation met CVC K V Chowdary and submitted a detailed memorandum, accusing the government of causing loss to the public exchequer and endangering national security by bypassing state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in favour of some businessman "friends" for offset contract.
The delegation comprised senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ahmed Patel, Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Jairam Ramesh, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Manish Tewari, Vivek Tankha, Parmod Tiwari and Pranav Jha.
On Saturday, coming out in Modi's defence, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad condemned Gandhi's remarks as "shameful and irresponsible" and said no president of any party in independent India has ever used such language against a prime minister.
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman took to Twitter and said, "They betray their sense of desperation in being out-of-power. In our govt there is no corruption. No wonder today the buzz is #RahulKaPuraKhandanChor."
Modi had announced the procurement of 36 Rafale fighters after holding talks with the then French president Hollande on April 10, 2015, in Paris.
On Friday, Hollande was quoted by a French publication as saying that the Indian government proposed Anil Ambani-led Reliance Defence as the partner for Dassault Aviation in the Rs 58,000 crore Rafale jet fighter deal and France did not have a choice.
The French government said it was in no manner involved in the choice of Indian industrial partners for the Rafale fighter jet deal.
The Congress has also been demanding answers from the government on why state-run aerospace major HAL was not involved in the deal as finalised during the UPA. The opposition parties have also alleged that the Reliance Defence was formed just 12 days before the announcement of the Rafale deal by the prime minister on 10 April 2015. The Reliance group has rejected the charges.
