Former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha continued his tirade against BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Rafale deal.
Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru on Wednesday, he alleged that through Rafale deal Narendra Modi has reduced his own 'Make In India' campaign a mere slogan. He said, “As I’ve said when UPA was in power they floated a RFP for 126 planes out of which 18 were to be in a fly away condition and the rest manufactured by HAl. Suddenly this proposal was cancelled and when Prime Minister visited Paris in 2015, a deal was struck for the purchase of 36 planes only in fly away condition. There’s a detailed proposal has to be followed which UPA did in 2007 for the 126 aircraft. That deal is dead and nobody is taking about it anymore”. “Prime Minister and he alone took the decision and hence he is personally responsible. There are no partners in this crime” he added.
He demanded a forensic audit should be conducted by Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), to find out 'criminal intent or negligence' in the deal. "Congress has been demanding a JPC probe. Since it will be headed by a member of the ruling party, there is no use of the Committee probe," he added.He said that a JPC on Bofors too had made little headway. Rather than that, the forensic audit should be completed by December 31 to find out the irregularities in the deal.
He said “Why was HAl completely kicked out when there is talk of Make in India. Despite the empty slogan of make in India the deal to manufacture 108 aircraft in HAl was scrapped. Even offset obligation not given to HAl and a private party was given, I don’t want to name for fear of 5,000 crore defamation”.