Modi govt determined to embarrass SC: Chidambaram hits back at Swaraj

New Delhi, Jan 3: Former Finance Minister and Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday attacked the government over Rafale deal and said the 'government is determined to embarrass the Supreme Court at every opportunity'.

In a series of tweets, Chidamabram said the Modi government seems to be determined to embarrass the Supreme Court.

To a simple question if the government will table the minutes of the Modi-Hollande meeting of April 10, 2015, the EAM said that question too had been decided by the Supreme Court! Were the minutes placed before the Supreme Court? Did the Supreme Court comment on the minutes?" Chidambaram said.

"How much more embarrassment will the government heap on the Honourable Supreme Court?" he asked.

Asserting that every issue raised by the Congress on Rafale deal has been clarified by the Supreme Court, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had earlier said in Rajya Sabha that there is no controversy in the matter, except in minds of the opposition party leaders.

"There is no controversy. Controversy is there in your mind. All the controversy issues that you (Congress) raised, the Supreme Court has clarified on each of them. Please don't use the word controversy again," she said.

She said, "The whole country knows there is no controversy. The Supreme Court has cleared each issue. If you still think there is a controversy, then no one can reply."

There is no end in sight to the tussle between the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Congress over the Rafale deal, though only four working days remain in the ongoing winter session of Parliament.

The Congress-led opposition has stuck to its demand for a probe by a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) and the government again rejected it, increasing the political acrimony over the fighter jet deal.