In a major relief for the Modi-government, the Supreme Court today dismissed all the petitions seeking a court-monitored probe in the multi-billion dollar Rafale fighter jet deal with France. The top court said there was no occasion to doubt the decision making process in the deal, adding that there were no reasons to interfere in the procurement process for the fighter jets. This is not the job of the court to deal with the comparative details of the pricing, it said. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said there is a necessity for fighter aircraft and the country cannot remain without the jets. The verdict was pronounced on a batch of pleas seeking a court-monitored probe into deal.
1. Rajnath Singh, Union Home Minister
Congress politicised the issue for their gains. The Rafale deal was crystal clear from the beginning and the Congress has been levying baseless allegations to gain political mileage
Supreme Court gives clean chit to Modi govt, says ' it's not job of court to go into issues of pricing'
2. Prakash Javadekar, Union Minister
Lies spread by Congress have been exposed with this Supreme Court verdict. Wrong allegations were leveled. It is a good decision.
3. Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister
Entire deal was fair, transparent and honest. I am assured to learn the Supreme Court observation
4. Arun Jaitley, Union Minister
FM Arun Jaitley has demanded in Rajya Sabha that a debate should take place on the issue. "Rahul Gandhi maafi maango" (Rahul Gandhi apologise) slogans were also raised in the house.
5. Shanawaz Hussain, BJP leader
Every deal is not Bofors deal. It is the culture and tradition of Congress and its top leadership to mint money from such deals on the cost of country's national security. Rahul Gandhi and the Congress should apologise to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making false allegations against him and questioning his credibility.
6. Anil Ambani
I welcome the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court today summarily dismissing all PILs filed on the Rafale contracts, and conclusively establishing the complete falsity of the wild, baseless and politically motivated allegations levelled against Reliance Group and me personally. We remain committed to India's national security and to making our humble contribution towards the Make in India and Skill India policies of the Government in the critical area of defence including our offset partnership agreement with our valued partner, Dassault Aviation.
7. Jyotiraditya Scindia, Congress leader
The apex court order is not a setback as the Rafale deal is still an issue in the people's court. And the party will continue to raise the issue in the Parliament.
8. Randeep Singh Surjewala, Congress leader
SC decision upholds Cong stand that corruption in Rafale deal cannot be decided by Supreme Court. Government should form joint parliamentary committee for the investigations into the deal.
9. Omar Abdullah
Can't see how Rafale Deal remains an election issue after this. Have to ask whether the SC was the right place to fight this battle? Some fights are best fought in the political arena.
10: Prashan Bhushan
In our opinion the Supreme Court judgement is totally wrong, the campaign will certainly not drop and we will decide if we will file a review petition.
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