The Congress supremo, Rahul Gandhi has been hitting on the BJP government for months over the Rafale deal. Clearly, in the present scenario, one is forced to believe that this is the only card in the hands of the Congress, which it’s President has been using over and over again, against the incumbent government.
Rahul Gandhi, who has been famous for citing different prices for Rafale jets ranging from a few hundred rupees apiece to thousands of crores, has taken to first ignore the SC’s verdict over the deal and now rubbishes the very report he and his party have been demanding to see.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi: CAG report is a worthless report. I would term it as a ‘Chowkidar Auditor General Report’. It is Narendra Modi’s report, written for the Chowkidar, on behalf of the Chowkidar, for the Chowkidar by the Chowkidar. #Rafale pic.twitter.com/F5GZRceZyG
— ANI (@ANI) February 12, 2019
The Gandhi scion forgets that it was he and his party leaders who had gone hammer and tongs demanding the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)’s report over Rafale pricing to be made available and now, when the CAG has tabled a report on the Rafale deal in the Parliament today, Rahul, conveniently forgetting his earlier statements, has openly rubbished the report calling it worthless.
In fact, the Congress, probably anticipating a clean chit to the government over the Rafale deal, had started resorting to such theatrics since yesterday, raising questions on the impartiality of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India himself.
A few months ago the Congress wanted the CAG to present his report as soon as possible. In September, a delegation of senior Congress leaders met the CAG on the Rafale deal and asked the auditor to prepare a report on alleged irregularities in it.
Again in October, the Congress urged the CAG to carry out a forensic audit of the Rafale fighter jet deal and bring all facts on record to enable Parliament to fix accountability for the alleged scam in the contract. The Congress had then, contrary to its present stand, called the CAG a constitutional body and said that it must audit the deal.
“It is expected that the CAG which has a Constitutional mandate and authority to scrutinize every document, in this case including original tender, understanding reached between Dassault and HAL and the arbitrary decision of the Prime Minister without any mandate from Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) will undertake a forensic audit,” the memorandum said.
In fact, in December 2018, when the Supreme court ruled that there was no reason to doubt the process that the government followed to buy the Rafale jets, the Congress had made a major hue and cry, demanding to see the CAG report on the Rafale deal.
And now, once the CAG has done what actually the Congress has been demanding all this while, Rahul Gandhi takes a complete U-turn and disregards CAG and its audit report dubbing it as ‘Chowkidar Auditor General’ report.
Ankur Singh on Twitter identified this peculiarity of Rahul’s where he is seen going back on his words, leaving the Twitter users wondering whether the Congress President does this deliberately or whether he is genuinely suffering from some kind of intellective disorder.
Rahul Gandhi was asking where is CAG report on Rafale?
Now says CAG report is worthless. pic.twitter.com/8uxuakrnlL
— अंकुर सिंह (@iAnkurSingh) February 12, 2019
Many users on Twitter commented over the conflicting stands displayed by Congress.
Rahul Gandhi was asking for CAG report on Rafale Deal and now conveniently takes U-Turn on the same.
RT if you think rahul gandhi is more of an expert than kejriwal in taking U-Turns pic.twitter.com/EVeCDafrSU
— ??. ?????? (@Lala_The_Don) February 12, 2019
Congress and Indian Institutions.
CBI – Caged Parrot.
EC – Blamed for EVM malfunctioning.
NIA & IB – Used to invent Saffron Terror.
SC – CJI threatened with impeachment.
CAG – Vinod Rai was name-called. Now it is ‘Chowkidaar Auditor General’But Modi destroys institutions. ? https://t.co/SXRP0aDi3H
— Shwetank (@shwetankbhushan) February 12, 2019
Moreover, what could be seen as another irony is that Rahul Gandhi castigated the country’s Prime Minister by citing a report published in The Indian Express to renew his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over Rafale deal. Rahul said that PM Modi acted as a middleman for Anil Ambani. He also sought criminal proceedings against PM Modi. However, he refuses to accept the audit report prepared by a constitutional body.
Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Rajiv Mehrishi on Monday submitted the report on Rafale deal to President Ram Nath Kovind. The Modi government is likely to table the report in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, a day before the first part of Budget Session culminates.
