"Not A Setback At All," Says Congress On Rafale Order

NEW DELHI: As the government demanded Rahul Gandhi's apology today after the Supreme Court rejected a probe into the Rafale jet deal saying it found "no substantial evidence of any commercial favouritism," the Congress leadership said that the court ruling is "not a setback at all".

Top Congress sources said the party would keep up its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to investigate the deal as the Supreme Court "had not looked at all the points". Only a parliamentary probe will be able to look into these details, the sources said.

The Rs. 59,000-crore deal for the purchase of 36 Rafale jets from French firm Dassault headlined Congress President Rahul Gandhi's campaign during the recent state elections, in which the party won three big BJP-ruled states - Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

The Congress President alleges huge corruption by the government to favour industrialist Anil Ambani, who, he maintains, scored an offset deal with Dassault despite the inexperience of his defence company. The Congress alleges that the centre scrapped a deal for 126 Rafale jets negotiated by the previous UPA government and entered an expensive new contract just to help Anil Ambani.

Without naming Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi repeatedly used the phrase "Chowkidaar chor hai" at his rallies.

Mr Gandhi's allegations are centred on the offset deal, in which Dassault has to invest half the value of the contract - about Rs. 30,000 crore - in Indian firms. Anil Ambani's Reliance Defence was chosen as one of those "offset" partners and is to manufacture plane parts - though not for the 36 jets ordered by India.

The top court said there was "no substantial evidence of commercial favouritism to any private entity", demolishing the Congress and opposition arguments.

A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi also said "perception by individuals cannot be the subject of roving inquiry" by the court.