Rafale Deal: Vadra asks Modi to tell nation the truth
New Delhi, Sep 26: Congress President Rahul Gandhi's brother-in-law Robert Vadra on Wednesday accused the Narendra Modi-led BJP government of indulging in "witch hunt" against him and said that they should tell the nation the "truth rather than hiding behind a bunch of lies".
In a Facebook post, Vadra said that it used to "amaze" him in the beginning. "But now it has become a wholesale farce that the BJP rakes up my name every time they are cornered, whether it's the falling rupee, soaring oil prices or this latest number when they have been totally exposed selling out the nation on Rafale," he said.
Vadra's remarks come after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged that there was a nexus between him and arms dealer and middleman Sanjay Bhandari due to which the Rafale deal with French firm was cancelled in 2012.
Vadra, who is married to Rahul Gandhi's sister Priyanka Gandhi, said, "Having all the agencies under their beck and call... No one knows better than the BJP that they have indulged in a baseless political witch hunt against me for the last four years."
"Instead they should man up with their 56 inch chest and tell the nation the truth about the Rafale deal rather than hiding behind a bunch of lies which the people are fed up of hearing," he added.
The BJP on Tuesday alleged that Bhandari, who has close links with Vadra, formed a company named Offset India Solutions (OIS) in 2008 and he formed a joint venture with Rafaut as he tried to enter into an offset clause in the Rafale fighter jets deal through the back door.
The BJP alleged that the then government mounted pressure on the French firm Dassault Aviation to give works to Bhandari's company.
The BJP also said that the Rafale deal was scrapped after years of negotiations as Vadra was not getting the commission out of the deal.
The party also alleged that Vadra had received a flat in London worth Rs 19 crore and air tickets to Zurich from Bhandari to secure defence deals for him.
The Congress has been accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of indulging in crony capitalism apart from violating procedures in the Rafale deal.
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'Last rites' of INDIA bloc: BJP on Cong-DMK fallout in Tamil Nadu
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Wednesday took a swipe at the Congress for extending support to Vijay's TVK in forming the government in Tamil Nadu and breaking away from its long term ally DMK, saying the party has a history of "betraying" its allies.
The saffron party also attacked the opposition INDIA bloc, claiming the alliance is "falling apart like a pack of cards" and lacks any common ideology or vision.
The Tamil Nadu Congress has decided to support TVK leader Vijay in forming a secular government in the state, sources said.
The decision to support the TVK was taken at an urgent meeting of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of Tamil Nadu Congress late on Tuesday night.
Reacting to the development, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla claimed the INDIA alliance had effectively come to an end after the declaration of assembly election results on May 4.
"There is nobody whom the Congress has not deceived. Imagine what they will do to the Samajwadi Party if they have done this to the DMK," he wrote in a post on X.
Calling it the "last rites" of the INDIA bloc, Poonawalla, in a video post, said, "It has become a Bharat free of the DMK, TMC and the Left, and now Congress has dumped the DMK for the TVK."
The BJP spokesperson alleged that the opposition bloc was formed solely out of political compulsions and personal ambitions.
"The INDI alliance never had any mission or vision. It was only about ambition for position, corruption, commission and obsession against Modi ji that they came together. But now it is all falling apart like a pack of cards," he said.
Questioning the unity of the opposition parties, Poonawalla said the alliance was absent in several states during the election.
"Where was the INDI alliance in Bengal, in Kerala, in Gujarat, in Punjab, in Delhi, in Haryana, in Karnataka? There is no INDI alliance," he said.
The DMK on Wednesday described the Congress move to extend support to TVK as a "backstab" by its long-time national ally.
Speaking to PTI videos, DMK spokesperson Saravanan Anadurai said, "The Congress party has decided to ally with the TVK, pledging their support to the party. I think they have backstabbed... They have backstabbed the people of Tamil Nadu. They've backstabbed the mandate given by the people of Tamil Nadu."
He said that the decision came even before the electoral process had fully concluded.
"Even before the ink on the returning officer's signature on the victory certificate dried up, they've chosen to go ahead with an alliance," he said.
Vijay's TVK won 108 seats in the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly, falling short of the halfway mark. He needs the support of 10 MLAs to form a government with a simple majority. The results were declared only on Monday.
The Congress has won five seats, while the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) has bagged four seats. The CPI and CPI-M have two seats each. The outgoing ruling party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), has won 59 seats while the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) has won 47 seats.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won only one seat, and so have the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) and the Amma Makkal Munnettra Kazagam (AMMK), while the VCK has won two seats.
The Congress had fought the assembly polls in a pre-poll alliance with the DMK, while the BJP had a tie-up with the AIADMK.
