In a sharp counter-offensive against Rahul Gandhi over the Rafale issue, the BJP Friday said Congress chief's fresh allegation against Prime Minister Narendra Modi is "yet another lie from his lie-manufacturing factory" and accused him of working at the behest of foreign forces for the cancellation of the deal.
Gandhi demanded answers to questions raised by a report in The Hindu that the PMO conducted parallel negotiations on the Rafale deal, saying it is now crystal clear that the "watchman", a reference to Modi, is the "thief".
A bevy of Union ministers from the BJP hit out at Gandhi.
"Rahul Gandhi's lie-manufacturing factory has served us yet another lie. We absolutely reject his allegations. He and the Congress are working to get the Rafale deal scrapped. They are playing in the hands of foreign forces and companies with vested interests," Union minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters.
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who earlier in Parliament slammed the opposition for "flogging a dead horse", told reporters that the Congress has become a toy in the "ugly game" of multinational corporations and also criticised the news report for raising issues "selectively" and ignoring the then minister's reply to file notings of officials.
"Keeping in mind the ethics of journalism, isn't it the responsibility of the newspaper to publish response of Manohar Parrikar (then defence minister). Is it right to selectively raise issues to suit one's story? Picking this selective kind of noting and building an issue falsely on it is completely called out today," she said.
She also took exceptions to Gandhi's direct address to armed forces, asking if he wants to agitate them and to rise against the government.
At a press conference, Gandhi had said,"I want to speak to every member of the armed forces of this nation... It is absolutely clear that the prime minister has stolen Rs 30,000 crore of your money, bypassed a process, and given it to his friend Mr Anil Ambani."
He said the Congress-led UPA government had finalised the Rafale deal in 2011 but did not go ahead with it because "it had not got any commission."
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