SC's order on Rafale is victory of national security; Rahul, Congress must apologise: Ravi Shankar Prasad

NEW DELHI: The BJP on Thursday launched a scathing attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after the Supreme Court gave a clean chit to the government on the Rafale deal and said he lied in Parliament and stooped to the "shameful" extent of misquoting the top court deliberately.

Addressing a press conference at the party office here, senior BJP leader and Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Congress and in particular, its former president Gandhi must apologise to the country.

Hailing the Supreme Court's order on the Rafale deal as a victory of the country's national security, Prasad said, "It is recognition of the honest decision-making process of the Narendra Modi government. Satayamav Jayete. The Congress party must apologise and Rahul Gandhi, in particular, must apologise to the country."

Hitting at Gandhi and his family, he said, "People having saga of corruption from Jeep scandal to Bofors to Submarine to AugustaWestland, where undertaking a political programme masquerading at the quest of justice.

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"Raising false allegations on the Rafale deal was the lowest point of political discourse that he stooped to the shameful extent of misquoting the supreme court deliberately," Prasad said.

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the review petitions against its verdict in the Rafale deal on grounds that they lacked merit, reiterating its clean chit to the Modi government in the fighter jet agreement with French firm Dassault Aviation.

The top court also closed the contempt plea against Gandhi for wrongly attributing to the apex court his "chowkidar chor hai" remark in the Rafale case against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The court said the remarks made by Gandhi were far from true and he should have refrained from those and could have been careful.