Robert Vadra breaks silence on corruption charges, says ruling party has been indulging in a "baseless political witch-hunt" against him for last four years
Robert Vadra. File Pic/AFP
UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra on Wednesday broke his silence on the charges of corruption levelled against him by the BJP and said the ruling party had been indulging in a "baseless political witch-hunt" against him for the last four years.
The ruling party rakes up his name every time it is cornered and this time it stands exposed on the Rafale issue, he said, describing the situation as a "wholesale farce". "Having all the agencies under their beck and call....no one knows better than the present government and the BJP that they have indulged in a baseless political witch hunt against me for the last four years. Instead, they should man up with their 56 inch chests and tell the nation the truth about the Rafale deal, rather than hiding behind a bunch of lies that the people are fed up of hearing them repeat," Vadra said in a statement. He said in a Facebook post that he was amazed in the beginning.
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However, it has now become a "wholesale farce" that the BJP rakes up his name every time it is cornered on the falling rupee, soaring oil prices or the latest on the Rafale issue on which it has been "totally exposed", he added.
The BJP dragged the Gandhi family into the intensifying political row over the fighter aircraft deal, with Union Minister Gajendra Shekhawat alleging that the UPA government had called off the multi-billion dollar deal after a private company linked to Vadra was not chosen as a broker. The Rafale controversy took a new turn last week after Francois Hollande, who was French president when the Rs 58,000 crore deal was announced, was quoted as saying by a French publication that France was given "no choice" on selection of the Indian partner for Dassault and India proposed the name of Reliance as offset partner for the French aerospace giant. Modi had announced the procurement of 36 Rafale fighters after talks with Hollande on April 10, 2015, in Paris.
Meanwhile, the BJP mounted a counter-attack on the Congress. Yesterday, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra cited confidential documents of the Ministry of Defence, recovered from Vadra's associate Sanjay Bhandari during raids in 2016, as proof of foul play in the UPA deal.
Rs 30,000cr stolen from HAL: Rahul
Rahul Gandhi termed the government's flagship Skill India campaign 'S-Kill India' and alleged Rs 30,000 crore was "stolen" from HAL in the Rafale deal and given to a man with "no skills" to make an aircraft. He also said the country's skilled youth are faced with the highest unemployment rate in the last 20 years. His attack came as part of a continued onslaught on the Modi government over the alleged corruption in the Rafale deal.
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