The Supreme Court judgment dismissing petitions for a probe into the Rafale jet deal is a "slap" on face of Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and his "lies" stand exposed, a senior UP minister Friday.
The top court in its ruling said there was no substantial evidence of commercial favouritism to any private entity, and added that there was no occasion to doubt the decision-making process in the procurement of 36 Rafale jets from France.
"The SC verdict is a slap on Rahul Gandhi's face. The lies of Rahul and his party stand exposed. This is also a lesson to a section of media houses, which did not go into depth of the issue and became tool of the Congress president," senior BJP leader and UP cabinet minister Shrikant Sharma said.
His remarks came hours after the apex court passed the verdict, saying it is not the job of the court to deal with the comparative details of the pricing of the Rafale fighters.
Reacting to the ruling, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said in Delhi that the Supreme Court vindicated the party's stand that "corruption" in the deal cannot be decided by the court and challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe.
Buoyed by the verdict, Sharma said, "The post of the prime minister is Constitutional and deliberate attempts were made to malign the image of the post."
Attacking the Congress president, he said, "The person allegedly involved in a Rs 5,000 crore fraud and out on Rs 50,000 bond is maligning the image of the PM's post. The Congress spread lies and confusions to defame government."
Claiming that the government was serious in checking corruption, Sharma added, "A former finance minister is about to go to jail, his son has already gone there. The accused in Augusta Westland deal is in jail and Vijay Mallaya is in the queue. The commitment of the Narendra Modi government in checking corruption cannot be questioned.
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