Rahul manufacturing lies, people more mature than him: BJP

New Delhi, Oct 25: The BJP Thursday accused Congress president Rahul Gandhi of "manufacturing lies" as it dubbed his linking the government's decision to send the CBI director on leave with the Rafale deal as "hallucination", claiming that the country has never seen such "childish politics".

Union minister Prakash Javadekar also lashed out at Gandhi over his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he has crossed all limits of decency by using "abuses" for Modi. But this will have no impact on people who are "more mature" than the Congress chief, he asserted. As the Congress has lost all hopes to be relevant, Gandhi has begun seeing Rafale aircraft even in his dreams and manufactures one lie after another, he said.

At a press conference earlier, Gandhi alleged that the midnight removal of CBI Director Alok Verma was a "panic reaction" by Modi to stall the agency's investigation into "corruption" in the Rafale fighter jet deal. "It's an absolute lie... The country has never seen such immature politics," Javadekar told a press conference to counter Gandhi's claims.

The Congress president failed on "matter, method and manners" in his briefing, he said. People are in fact saying that the government should have intervened much earlier than it did, the Union minister said, claiming that unlike the Congress-led UPA government, the BJP-led NDA dispensation does not interfere in the functioning of investigation agencies.

The government interfered because an anarchy-like situation had arrived, and "extraordinary situation demands extraordinary solution," he said. Taking a dig at the Congress after former finance minister P Chidambaram was named in a charge sheet by the Enforcement Directorate in the Aircel Maxis case, Javadekar said the Congress Working Committee may meet in Tihar jail in future as Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi are also out on bail in another case. He also dismissed Rahul Gandhi's claim that only a selection committee, which comprises the prime minister, the Chief Justice of India and the leader of the main opposition party, can take a call on the CBI chief's removal, saying the officer has not been removed but only sent on leave.

Javadekar also sought to put the functioning of the CBI under Verma, now on leave, in a dock, saying documents related to Aircel Maxis case probed by the agency were "found" in Chidambaram's home. The Congress leader's son Karti was also informed in advance about the CBI's lookout notice against him, allowing him time to move court, the BJP leader said. He alleged that Gandhi was angry because his party could not pocket commission in the Rafale deal during its term. What the Congress leader has been saying on the Rafale deal and the decision on Verma is "utterly fallacious" and "malicious lies", he said.

Javadekar referred to the allegations against the UPA government about interfering the CBI's investigation in cases, noting that the then law minister Ashwani Kumar had to resign for this. For the Congress to target us is a case of pot calling the kettle black, he claimed, adding that the CBI had filed closure report in some coal scam cases but the NDA government did not interfere.

However, he and another Union minister Hansraj Ahir have opposed the decision in court in their personal capacity because they were "whistle blowers" in the case during the UPA's term. He also dismissed the charge of the government snooping on Verma as "foolish".

PTI