Bhushan alleged that the then Air Chief accompanied Narendra Modi when the Prime Minister announced the Rafele deal with French President François Hollande while the fact is that the Air Chief was in his office that day; Yashwant Sinha asserted there was a need to consult the CCS to scrap an existing deal whereas there is, in fact, no such rule
Controversial lawyer Prashant Bhushan, along with the disgruntled BJP duo Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, held a press conference on Wednesday where they alleged that the Rafale deal was a bigger scandal than the Bofors gun deal. Ironically, they raised several points that were factually incorrect.
In the press conference that lasted more than 75 min, the trio attacked the government on several aspects of the deal but clearly stated that they had no faith in the fairness of the judiciary to probe the charges of corruption in the deal and also cast aspersions on the bureaucracy of the Central Vigilance Commission, Comptroller and Auditor General to probe the case in a transparent manner.
When asked whether they did not have faith in the police or any other institution of the country, the trio said it was up to the media to send the message across and appeal to people’s conscience.
Bhushan stated that the present Air Chief was present in Paris on the day the deal was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with French President François Hollande but the Air Chief had stated that he did not know about the deal. This is factually incorrect.
The fact is that present chief Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa was commander-in-chief of the Indian Air Force’s South Western Air Command who was in his office the day the Prime Minister made the announcement in Paris.
Disgruntled BJP leader Sinha made a tall claim in the press conference that he had the experience of running government business and alleged that Prime Minister Modi did not consult the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) before scrapping the UPA-era negotiations for 126 Rafale planes.
However, the fact is that, for retracting a tender, there is no need for the Defence Ministry or the government to take sanction from the CCS. It is generally done by the bureaucracy in consultation with the Defence Minister.
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