After the Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a group of petitions seeking court-monitored probe into the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France, in a deal worth Rs. 59,000 crore, Home Minister Rajnath Singh has said, "Congress President tried to mislead public for political benefit, and maligned Indian image globally".
Demanding an apology from the Congress president Rahul Gandhi for levying allegations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Rafale fighter jet deal, Singh said, "Rahul Gandhi should apologize to the house and to the people of the country. He thought 'Hum to doobe hain sanam tum ko bhi le doobenge'".
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"The matter was crystal clear from the beginning and we have been saying that the allegations leveled by Congress were baseless and to gain political mileage," he added,
The apex court on Friday dismissed all the petitions seeking a direction to the CBI to register an FIR for alleged irregularities in the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France and said there was no occasion to doubt the decision-making process in the multi-billion dollar defense deal.
Welcoming the judgement, BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said,"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," he said.
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Rahul Gandhi and the Congress should apologise to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making false allegations against him and questioning his credibility, he added.
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 CJI, who read out the judgement for the three-judge bench, said no reasons were found to interfere in the procurement process for the fighter jets.
The verdict was pronounced on a batch of pleas seeking a court-monitored probe into deal.
(With inputs from agencies)
