The BJP on Tuesday hit out against the Congress party over the alleged payment of ‘commission’ to the Nehru-Gandhi family in the Rafale deal during the Congress-led UPA government at the Center. The party demanded the Congress come clean on the allegation.
The BJP charge against the Congress party and its leaders came in the wake of reports appearing in the French web portal ‘Mediapart’ alleging that commissions were paid to the party and its leaders during the UPA regime.
A report in the French news portal ‘Mediapart’ said Dassault aviation paid at least 7.5 million Euros in bribes to a middleman for the Rafale deal. It also said that the bulk of the payments were made before 2013.
Speaking to the media here BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra said not only the reports about commissions being paid to Congress leaders had been revealed by the French web portal but also the name of the middleman involved in the alleged corruption.
“Today it has been revealed that the Congress government took commission during the Rafale negotiations between 2007 and 2012, in which the name of the middleman has also come to the fore,” Sambit Patra said.
Further training the guns at the Congress party, Patra sought Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s response to the French web portal disclosures.
“Rahul Gandhi should reply. Why did you and your party try to spread confusion about Rafale for so many years? The story of commissions paid in the Rafale deal is a big conspiracy. The whole matter happened between 2007 and 2012,” the BJP spokespersons said.
The BJP leader particularly referred to the opposition leader including the Congress party’s attempts to draw political mileage over the Rafale issue ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls by trying to create confusion about the whole matter.
“We all saw the way in which the opposition parties, particularly the Congress party, tried to create a false atmosphere about the Rafale before the 2019 elections. They thought it would benefit them politically,” Patra said.
Describing the INC as ‘I Need Commission’, Patra demanded the Congress reveal the bribe trail in the Rafale deal.
“We did government-to-government negotiation, the Congress must reveal the bribe trail. Where is the money that Congress made through commission between 2007 and 2012? Congress is double-faced when it comes to corruption and investigation. Favouritism was a part and parcel of negotiations that took place on the Rafale deal during the UPA regime,” the BJP spokesperson alleged.