Rahul Gandhi had accused Dassault chief Eric Trappier of lying about the Rafale deal. Both the government and the French aeronautics major have denied the allegation
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday demanded an apology from the Congress and its president Rahul Gandhi for levying allegations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Rafale fighter jet deal, in which the Supreme Court has given the government a clean chit.
The apex court dismissed all the petitions seeking a direction to the CBI to register an FIR for alleged irregularities in the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France and said there was no occasion to doubt the decision-making process in the multi-billion dollar defense deal.
The court during was hearing a number of petitions seeking court-monitored probe into the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France, in a deal worth Rs. 59,000 crore.
The apex court said there was no occasion to doubt the decision-making process in the multi-billion dollar Rafale deal.
"Questions raised on Rafale deal only after ex-French prez Hollande came out with statement, which can't be basis of judicial review," said the apex court.
Welcoming the judgement, BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said,"Every deal is not Bofors deal."
"It is the culture and tradition of Congress and its top leadership to mint money from such deals on the cost of country's national security," he said.
Rahul Gandhi and the Congress should apologise to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making false allegations against him and questioning his credibility, he added.
After SC's verdict, Home Minister Rajnath Singh took a jibe at Rahul Gandhi with a one-liner from the Bollywood movies. He said, "Rahul should apologize to the house and to the people of the country. He thought 'Hum to doobe hain sanam tum ko bhi le doobenge'.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said there is a necessity for fighter aircraft and the country cannot remain without the jets.
The CJI, who read out the judgement for the three-judge bench, said no reasons were found to interfere in the procurement process for the fighter jets.
The verdict was pronounced on a batch of pleas seeking a court-monitored probe into deal.
(With inputs from agencies)