Probe everybody including PM Modi in Rafale deal: Rahul Gandhi
New Delhi: Accusing the government of manipulating institutions to "save" Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Rafale deal, Congress president Rahul Gandhi Thursday said it has spoken of investigating the media over the theft of Rafale documents but has not probed those involved in the "scam of over Rs 30,000 crore".
Investigate everyone but probe Modi as well, Gandhi told a press conference, accusing the prime minister of performing a "bypass surgery" in the purchase of the fighter aircraft for corruption, including benefiting businessman Anil Ambani.
In defence ministry files, it is written that the Prime Minister's Office carried out parallel negotiations in the fighter jet deal, then why can't the PM be investigated, he asked.
The government has constantly rejected the allegations levelled by the Congress with the BJP accusing Gandhi of spreading lies to torpedo the Rafale deal due to his vested interests. Ambani has also rejected corruption allegations.
A day after the government told the Supreme Court that the Rafale files were stolen from the defence ministry, the Congress chief took a dig, saying the documents have disappeared like two crore jobs for youths, right price for farmers' produces and the promised 15 lakh for everybody.
Targeting Modi, Gandhi said the files have disappeared in the same way as jobs did following demonetisation and implementation of the GST.
Hitting back at Modi for calling the Congress a "poster boy" following the Balakot air strike, Gandhi said "it is he who is Pakistan's poster boy, not us" as he noted that the Modi government has got Pakistan spy agency ISI in India to probe the Pathankot terror attack.
Modi had also invited then Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif to attend his swearing in and then went to the country to meet him as well, he said.
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Air India's A350 aircraft enroute to London faces tech issue; returns to Delhi
New Delhi (PTI): Air India's A350 aircraft enroute to London Heathrow returned to the national capital due to a technical issue on Thursday afternoon after being airborne for nearly seven hours.
The same A350-900 aircraft VT-JRF had faced a technical issue on March 15, following which the plane operating the flight from New York to Delhi was diverted to the Irish town of Shannon, sources said.
An Air India spokesperson said its flight AI111, operating from Delhi to London on Thursday, made a precautionary air-return to the national capital following a suspected technical issue.
"The aircraft landed safely and consistent with Air India's high safety standards, it is currently subject to extensive technical evaluations, which will require additional time to complete," the spokesperson said in a statement.
According to the sources, noises were heard in the aircraft following which it was diverted.
The spokesperson also regretted the inconvenience caused to the passengers due to the unforeseen situation and said the airline was making every effort to ensure passengers are able to continue their journey to London at the earliest.
Details about the number of passengers onboard could not be ascertained.
The aircraft operating the flight AI111 was airborne for around four hours before the decision was taken to divert the plane when it was in the Saudi Arabia airspace. In total, the plane was airborne for nearly seven hours before landing back in the national capital, as per information available on flight tracking website Flightradar24.com.
The flight had taken off from Delhi around 6 am on Thursday and landed back at about 12.30 pm.
Air India started operating A350-900 planes from January 2024.
