New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday in an exclusive interview with ANI said that the Congress is trying to malign his name though they have no evidence.
 
Modi said that the Opposition party only weakened the nation’s security forces by slinging mud at the Centre on the Rafale fighter jet deal.
 
"People who level such allegations are only weakening the Army. But should I worry about the personal attacks being made against me or the fact that the country's needs still have to be met? I have decided that whatever the abuses hurled at me, whatever the allegations levelled against me, I will continue on the path of honesty and give primacy to the country's security," he told ANI.
 
When asked about the silence over the accusation made by the Congress, the Prime Minister said that the allegation was not against him personally, but against his government. “If there is any allegation against me personally, let them dig who gave what, when and where and to whom,” he said.
 
Modi said, “In Parliament, I have spoken elaborately on this and whichever public forum I got, I spoke about this. The matter has been cleared even by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court scrutinised it threadbare. The French President has spoken. ..Media should have the courage to ask (the Congress) where is the evidence for these allegations? Don’t throw muck and run away.... They (Congress) are not able to give any real evidence, just keep talking."

"Unko yeh bolne ki beemari hai toh mujhe kya baar baar ussi me ulajhna chahiye kya (If they have this problem of talking about it then should I too get entangled in it),” he added.
 
Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal accused the BJP government of favouring the Anil Ambani-led conglomerate Reliance Defence, the offset partner, to bag the contact.
Following the interview of Modi, the Congress demanded answers from the Prime Minister on Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's purported claim that he had a file on Rafale "lying in his bedroom" and asked if this was the reason why a joint parliamentary committee probe was not being ordered.