Arun Jaitley
Rejecting the demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into Rafale deal, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said that the “disrupters" have lost on all counts after the Supreme Court verdict.
Jaitley’s statement came after the apex court dismissed all the pleas challenging the deal between India and France for procurement of 36 Rafale jets.
Terming all the allegations on the Rafale deal nothing but "fiction writing", Jaitley said that they compromised national security.
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Falsehood is bound to fall apart and it has, Jaitley said, adding that if honest deals are questioned, then civil servants and armed forces will think twice before undertaking such a process in future.
Buoyed by the verdict, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who addressed a press conference along with Jaitley said the matter of Rafale deal has been put to rest through the apex court's order.
Jaitley said every figure cited by Gandhi in his allegations has been false. He said the government would again press for a debate on the issue in Parliament.
He claimed that there has been a tradition in democracies across the world of leaders quitting their positions when their lies are caught.
"Rafale deal has protected both security and commercial interest of India. Allegations on Rafale was fiction writing that was compromising national security," Jaitley said.
To a question about the Congress demand of Joint parliamentary Probe (JPC) into the deal, he said only judicial body can carry out such an investigation as there has been experience in the past of JPCs working on partisan lines.
The SC verdict is conclusive and leaves no scope of any doubt on the deal, he said.
Watch: No scope for JPC probe into Rafale deal after SC verdict, says FM Arun Jaitley
In relief to the Modi government, the Supreme Court Friday dismissed the pleas challenging the deal between India and France for procurement of 36 Rafale jets saying there was no occasion to "really doubt the decision making process" warranting setting aside of the contract.
The apex court rejected the pleas seeking lodging of an FIR and the court-monitored probe alleging irregularities in the Rs 58,000 crore deal, in which both the countries have entered into an inter-governmental agreement (IGA).
(With PTI inputs)
