The NCP said Thursday that its chief Sharad Pawar has not given any clean chit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Rafale issue, after the opposition leader's remarks that "people have no doubts" over the Prime Minister's intentions in the deal.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) spokesperson Nawab Malik also reiterated the party's demands that the Central Government disclose the price of the fighter jets and a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe the matter.
In an interview to a Marathi news channel, Pawar had said that he didn't think that people have doubts about Modi's intentions in the Rafale deal.
Pawar, a former Defence Minister, had also said that the Opposition's demand to share technical details relating to the fighter jets "made no sense". He, however, said there was no harm for the government to disclose prices of the aircraft.
Malik said Thursday that the media reports over Pawar's statement are "confusing and misleading".
"He (Pawar) has not made any statement defending Modi nor has he given any clean chit (in the Rafale deal matter)," the NCP leader said.
Malik said what Pawar meant was that people initially didn't have doubts about the Prime Minister.
"What Pawar saheb said was that the way the matter is being hushed up (by the Government) and attention of people from the issue is being diverted, the doubt is deepening," Malik said.
In his interview, Pawar had also said that the way Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Government's side led to confusion in the minds of people.
Quoting Pawar, Malik said the Government should share information about escalation of the fighter jets price.
"The way the BJP had insisted on forming a JPC in the Bofors deal in the 1980s, it should now allow formation of such a committee in connection with the Rafale issue too," Malik demanded.
