Pawar boosts PM on Rafale, adamant on JPC probe
Mumbai, Sep 27 : Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's image has been unscathed in the ongoing Rafale fighter aircraft row, a statement the BJP heartily welcomed on Thursday.
"There is no doubt in public minds about Modi's intentions in the Rafale deal, that's what I feel," Pawar said in an interview with a Marathi news channel New18-Lokmat, aired on Wednesday.
However, concurring with the Congress-led opposition demands, Pawar made it clear that there should be a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the Rafale deal in depth to unravel the truth before the public.
"When the Bofors deal with signed, the BJP was in the opposition and vociferously demanded a JPC probe which the then ruling Congress conceded. The terms and conditions of secrecy and other aspects are common in both Bofors and the Rafale agreements. So a JPC must be appointed to clear the air on the Rafale issue," Pawar asserted.
While the Congress on Thursday terming it Pawar's "personal views" on the sensitive matter, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah grabbed the opportunity by thanking Pawar for "placing national interests above party politics and speaking the truth".
"Dear Rahul Gandhi, you would be wiser by believing your own ally and a leader of Pawar Saheb's stature," Shah said in a mocking tweet.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi has been calling Modi a "chor" (thief) on the Rafale deal.
Attempting a damage control exercise, senior NCP leader and MP Majeed Memon said Pawar's statement was being atwisted out of context.
"There is absolutely no question of giving 'a clean chit' to anyone as suggested in some sections of the media," he said.
"I wish to make it clear on behalf of Pawar that the JPC should focus on two main issues - the financials of the deal and the pricing of the aircraft, and why Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd was suddenly edged out. The financials are very important and they cannot hide behind the secrecy clause since it's the taxpayer's money," Memon told IANS.
Pawar further said that while the technical clause was confidential, there was nothing wrong in revealing the pricing of the deal.
He pointed out that during the Bofors controversy, BJP leader and now External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had even wanted the technical aspects revealed.
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Karnataka Legislative Council Chairman expresses displeasure over absent ministers
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Legislative Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti on Tuesday briefly adjourned the House, expressing displeasure over the absence of Ministers and ruling party members post lunch break.
The development comes a day after Assembly Speaker U T Khader adjourned the House and walked out in protest, over the lack of written replies from government departments to questions raised by MLAs.
The "unprecedented" move by the Speaker had caused huge embarrassment to the Congress government, forcing the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to issue directives to Ministers and bureaucrats, including suspending errant officials.
When the council resumed after lunch, Leader of Opposition Chalavadi Narayanaswamy pointed toward the empty treasury benches and suggested that ruling party members seemed to have "boycotted" the proceedings.
Only Minister of School Education and Literacy Madhu Bangarappa and Chief Whip Saleem Ahmed were in attendance.
The Chairman asked, "Ministers are not here; what should I do?"
Raising objection to empty treasury benches, Opposition Chief Whip N Ravikumar said, "If we have to speak on any issues, who should we tell? Who is there among Ministers? Where is the government?"
Following this, Horatti adjourned the House for 10 minutes.
When the House resumed, a couple of Ministers -- Ramalinga Reddy, Santosh Lad arrived, but the treasury benches by and large remained sparse as most of the ruling Congress MLCs were absent.
The Chairman asked the Chief Whip Saleem Ahmed, "If there are no members and Ministers on the treasury bench side, what is it? How should the House be run? If you don't want, I will adjourn the House for tomorrow. What other work is there during the session? If there are no members and the seats are empty, how can the House run?"
When Horatti asked the Chief Whip about the MLCs, Ahmed replied, "They will be coming."
Pointing out that MLCs were not present, despite the House resuming late post lunch, the Chairman said, "What should we do? Shall I adjourn the House for tomorrow? What do you mean that they will be coming? I don't like it."
Ravikumar attacked the ruling Congress, asking, "Before whom should we raise the issues?"
When the Chairman expressed his willingness to adjourn the House till Wednesday morning, Ravikumar said the opposition BJP was ready to participate in the proceedings, provided the treasury benches show equal cooperation.
Defending the ruling party members, Congress MLC Ramesh Babu said there was some delay in the return of his party colleagues, who had gone for lunch.
As a couple of Ministers and ruling party MLCs started trickling in, the Chairman called BJP MLC A H Vishwanth to speak on the Budget.
