Congress leader M Veerappa Moily has stirred a controversy with his blistering attack against the Indian Air Force Chief Air Chief Marashal BS Dhanoa on the Rafale deal. Moily said that Dhanoa was lying.
Speaking to reporters in Hyderabad, Moily said, “Today, to say it is fine [the Supreme Court judgment]…I think that IAF chief is not fine….he is not fine, he is lying. He is suppressing the truth. He is a party to suppressing the truth.”
Moily’s comments came after Dhanoa termed the Supreme Court’s verdict on the Rafale deal a ‘very fine’ judgement. The Supreme Court had refused to order a probe into the Rafale deal while dismissing a host of petitions. Later, the Congress had accused the BJP government at the Centre of lying in the Supreme Court by falsely claiming that the CAG had submitted its report before the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament. The central government had filed a correction saying that the error was not deliberate.
Reacting to Moily’s comments, India’s junior home minister, Kiren Rijiju asked, “Why does Congress Party insult our Men in uniforms? Is there any institution left for Congress to attack?”
Union HRD Minister Prakash Javdekar said, “The statement is unfortunate. This shows that their (Congress party’s) desperation is complete, and they are totally shattered by the speed of inquiry against corruption.”
Moily, according to NDTV, later issued a clarification and said, “The question is, is he justifying it on the basis of the Supreme Court judgement which is flawed? In the light of this, whether the IAF chief can again certify that this is fine. I am asking him that question. I never called him a liar. If this HAL is fine… Both of them cannot be fine.”
The Supreme Court has not yet said whether it will modify its earlier order in light of factual inaccuracies emerging in the government’s submission, which had played a key role in the top court dismissing the petitions.