Rafale deal: In order to expose Rahul Gandhi-led Congress for spreading falsehood against central government and Rafale jet deal, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday announced that it will hold as many as 70 press conferences across the country on December 17. The announcement came after the BJP government filed an application seeking correction in the order to make it clear that the pricing of Rafale jets, examined by the Comptroller and Audit General (CAG), has not been looked into by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) which is headed by Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge.


As per reports, several senior BJP leaders including Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Smriti Irani, JP Nadda and others would conduct these press conferences and would speak to media on Monday.

According to news agency ANI, the Union of India (UoI) sought urgent correction in the wording of paragraph in the order stating that the judgement has resulted in a controversy causing unrest in the political landscape. The Supreme Court-headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi in the verdict ruled that the pricing details of Rafale jets deal have been shared with the CAG and the report of the same has been examined by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

However, the Congress party maintained that no portion of the CAG report has been placed before Parliament or placed in the public domain. Kharge had also said no such report had come to him. Even the Youth wing of Congress party conducted a candlelight march at India Gate in the national capital earlier today, demanding a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe the Rafale fighter jet deal.

“The BJP government lied in the Supreme Court, stating they shared the price of the Rafale fighter jet with the CAG and the CAG report was examined by the PAC,” alleged Keshav Chandra Yadav, the Youth Congress chief.

(With inputs from agencies)