Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said no one can save Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Rafale investigation as the Supreme Court has reinstated the CBI chief who was unceremoniously removed by the Modi Government.
Speaking to media outside Parliament, Rahul Gandhi said the CBI chief was “ousted” at 1 am as he was about to begin an investigation into the Rafale jet agreement and Prime Minister Modi and his Government cannot run away from a probe into the deal.
He said the entire nation will know “without a shadow of doubt” that he has taken Rs 30,000 crore of people’s money and given it to his “friend” Anil Ambani, Rahul Gandhi said on his first reaction to the Supreme Court order for CBI Director Alok Verma.
“The CBI chief was ousted at 1 am in the night because he was about to begin a probe into the Rafale deal. The CBI chief has been reinstated and we have got some relief. Now let’s see what happens. They cannot run away from Rafale, it is impossible. Modi ji ran away from a debate. He should have discussed with us the Rafale issue, in the people’s court. No one can save them from Rafale, as Rafale is the truth. No one can run away from the truth,” he said.
Shortly after Verma was sent on leave late in October, Rahul had accused Modi of allegedly removing him in an attempt to stop the officer from investigating the Rafale “scam”. The party has often pressed the charge against the Government since. It had also said that divesting Verma of his statutory powers abruptly — amid a feud with his deputy Rakesh Asthana — was illegal.
The Congress party has been targeting Modi on the deal alleging the price of each Rafale aircraft has sharply increased from Rs 526 crore, negotiated by the previous UPA Government, to Rs 1,600 crore and that the contract will help Anil Ambani get Rs 30,000 crore benefit through offset contract. Ambani too has rejected the charges.