Yashwant, Shourie say Rafale deal is the biggest defence scandal ever

New Delhi, Aug 8: Former BJP ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie on Wednesday alleged that the Rafale jet deal was “unilaterally” finalized by Prime Minister Narendra Modi by violating mandatory procedures, and this defence scandal was “larger than any thus far.” Activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who addressed the media with the former NDA ministers, said the manner in which the order for Rafale jets was changed made for a “clear case of criminal misconduct”. Besides the “gross violation of mandatory procedures,” a public sector undertaking was “inexplicably dropped” from the project, he said. Demanding a time-bound probe by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, they asked the government to come clean on the issue. “If the Modi government had stuck to the old deal (negotiated by the UPA government), we could have already got 18 aircraft in flyaway condition and production would have started on the rest of 108 in India. But a new deal of 36 aircraft was finalized without due procedure. Ye raat ko ilhaam kahan se aaya (When did this divine revelation come)?” Shourie asked. (IANS)