BJP wants Congress to answer role of Offset India Solutions in Rafale deal

New Delhi, Sep 25: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is trying to put the ball of Rafale deal in the Congress' court by saying that party wanted to benefit son-in-law of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi but when it failed to do so, the entire Gandhi family started trying to sabotage the deal which was in the interest of the country.

The BJP leaders are of the view that the move of the Gandhi family is against the national interest. And by demanding Joint Parliament Committee (JPC), the Congress wants secret information to reach the enemy country. Union minister of state for agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said that Robert Vadra and his business partner Sanjay Bhandari have been visiting defence expo quite often. He said that the UPA government wanted to have the Rafale deal by involving the company of Robert Vadra the Offset India Solutions which was formed in 2008 and was working as a middleman in defence deals.

The UPA government wanted to give this contract to his company but when contract did not get materialize, the deal was cancelled. Even today the pressure is being made to cancel the deal and Dassault is being made to realise its place. He said that the Congress wanted to put across the message that if the contract was not honoured they will not allow this to happen and when they will come to power they will get the contract to other manufacturers.

Shekhawat accused that for the contract that Robert Vadra and his friend Sanjay Bhandari did not get, the revenge is being taken by compromising the security of the nation. The Congress wants secrets of the security forces to be exposed before such countries for whom all the security arrangement is made.

Shekhawat said that as far as a demand made by the Congress of JPC, secret information will have to be made public which will not only harm the strategic preparedness of the country but expose secret before foreign elements. The Congress must also answer the question posed by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley that why the deal got cancelled in 2013.

The most interesting thing that ill-informed Congress president Rahul Gandhi is comparing incomparable as he is comparing unloaded Rafale jet with the loaded Rafale jet which has huge differences. Shekhawat said that for the past a few days, Rahul Gandhi has been misleading the country by comparing the cost of an unloaded aircraft with a fully loaded aircraft. The present-day Rafale deal is 20 per cent cheaper that the UPA deal. Gajendra Singh Chouhan asked how far is it correct to weaken the strategic strength of India to benefit son-in-law of Sonia Gandhi. Does the Congress has an answer for it.

Another senior BJP leader said that the government was ready to answer every question, but a Joint Parliamentary Committee, as demanded by Congress president Rahul Gandhi, was not required as its only motive is to spread slander. "We have answered each and every question. We are ready to engage with any one. We realize there is a perception battle and we will fight it out," said the leader.