The Congress on Tuesday promised to initiate an investigation into the alleged irregularities in the Rafale deal if the party is voted to power in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections.
"Congress will cause to be investigated several deals entered into by the BJP Government in the last 5 years and, in particular, the Rafale deal," the party said in its manifesto under the anti-corruption column.
Earlier today, Congress manifesto committee member Bhalchandra Mungekar said that an inquiry into the controversial deal will be initiated "on the first day" if the party came to power.
"We will initiate an inquiry into Rafale deal on the first day after coming to power and we have included this in the manifesto," Mungekar told ANI.
The Congress, led by its president Rahul Gandhi, has repeatedly levelled allegations against the BJP government for alleged wrongdoings in the Rafale deal, and has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi directly for corruption, which the ruling party has outrightly denied.
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The previous UPA government had proposed to procure 126 Rafale aircraft for the IAF, manufactured by the French aerospace company Dassault, which had emerged the lowest bidder in a tendering process.
Under that proposal, 18 fighters were to be bought in flyway condition and rest were to be manufactured in India.
However, the deal could not finally fructify and the NDA government signed an agreement to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets in 2016 with the French government under then-President Francois Hollande.
The Congress has demanded a parliamentary probe committee to look into the controversial deal.
Gandhi has alleged that Prime Minister Modi conducted "parallel negotiations" and cancelled the previous deal agreed by the UPA government, and gave Anil Ambani firm's Reliance Defence the offset contract worth Rs 30,000 crore.
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