Rafale jets deal: Rahul Gandhi forms six-member task force to ‘expose’ BJP

With just months left for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, a six-member task force has been put in place by Congress president Rahul Gandhi to probe into the Rafale scam. Sources suggest that the six members of this task force have been personally selected by the party president.

The six-member body would have senior Congress leader Jaipal Reddy as its head and it would be supervised by national spokesperson and Haryana MLA Randeep Surjewala. Arjun Modhwadia, Shakti Singh Gohil, Priyanka Chaturvedi, Jaiveer Shergill and Pawan Khera are the other members of the task force, reports Financial Express.

Based on the allegations in the deal, the main work of this task force would be centred around revealing the inadequacies of the ruling party on the Rafale deal.

A total of 160 districts across the country would be covered by the task force in a period of six months where they would reach out to the people with regard to the Rafale deal. Also, 100 conferences would be held in various cities. The first phase of work for this task force is expected to begin on August 25.

“All allegations being levelled in various press conferences are already answered on the floor of Parliament. A recent attempt, in the House, to malign the government through baseless charges collapsed. Today’s was yet another attempt at repeating fabricated facts,” read a tweet by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on August 8.

1.All allegations being levelled in various press conferences are already answered on the floor of the Parliament. A recent attempt, in the House,to malign the government through baseless charges collapsed. Today’s was yet another attempt at repeating fabricated facts. #Rafale

— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) August 8, 2018

2. The 2016 IGA has followed the due process and has been done to benefit the nation. Repeating these allegations ad nauseum is only an attempt to malign the government. #Rafale

— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) August 8, 2018

In an attempt to upgrade aerial defence systems of the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015 had made it public that India would be buying 36 French-manufactured Rafale fighter jets from French makers Dassault.

The Modi-led BJP government at the Centre went against the UPA government’s commitments of buying 126 Rafales citing that they were too expensive. But after a facing a need to upgrade the Air Force, Modi finally decided to buy 36 “ready-to-fly” fighter jets.