Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLC N Ramchander Rao on Saturday demanded that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi should apologise before the nation for spreading 'falsehood' and for 'defaming' Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Rafale deal.
"BJP has come to power with a complete majority and you have suffered defeat in the last Lok Sabha elections. We demand that Gandhi should apologise before the nation for spreading falsehood and for defaming the PM. BJP government believes in bringing corruption-free governance in the country but corruption and lies are inherited qualities of Congress party and its leaders," said Rao.
He further said that today BJP is protesting against the false campaign carried out by the Congress party and especially Gandhi who is spreading lies, despite the Supreme Court's order.
"Despite the Supreme Court giving its verdict in both - the judgement and review judgement in Rafale deal that everything is okay, everything is fine and there is no corruption in it. Gandhi keeps on repeating the words claiming that there is a 'scam' in the deal," he said.
Rao further stated that as far as BJP's defence policy is concerned, the party has taken all necessary steps to ensure transparency in the deal.
"In fact, Rafale deal was initiated during the UPA government and it was a government to government deal, there were no mediators. The defence recruitment procedures were modified from time to time in order to ensure transparency in the entire deal. Despite all this, Gandhi and Congress Party leaders are shamelessly trying to defame the BJP and PM Modi," he added.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court dismissed a clutch of petitions seeking review of its December 2018 order upholding the validity of purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France.
Soon after the verdict, senior BJP minister demanded that Gandhi, who raised the Rafale issue on almost every rally during the Lok Sabha elections, should apologise for misleading the nation.
Gandhi was president of the Congress during the Lok Sabha elections and had promised an investigation into the Rafale deal had Congress come to power.
( With inputs from ANI )