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Falsehood has a short life: Arun Jaitley after Supreme Court's judgement on Rafale deal

WION Web Team
New Delhi, Delhi, IndiaUpdated: Dec 15, 2018, 03:47 PM IST
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Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley addressed a rare joint press conference on December 14 over SC's ruling on Rafael.   Photograph:(PTI)

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Jaitley on the other hand, noted that the 'disrupters have lost.'

Hours after a three-judge Supreme Court bench said that detailed scrutiny of the Rafale fighter jet deal was not required, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley hit out at the Congress party and said ''falsehood has short life''. 

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Arun Jaitley addressed a rare joint press conference on Friday.  

Sitharaman said that on all three counts over which concerns were raised, the Supreme Court had today come out with a clear verdict. The matter has been thoroughly through the court and laid to rest, she said.

The Court clearly said "no evidence of commercial favouritism," Sitharaman added. 

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Jaitley stated that the Supreme Court has clearly deemed the purchase of the aircraft as "very important" to the country's defence and added "disrupters have lost."

Arun Jaitley lashed out at the Opposition stating that "Congress' fictional writing compromised national security."

Rafale deal

He added that the deal "protected both security and commercial interest of India."

"Security interest because it increases combat ability of India, commercial interest because the final price was significantly lower both for aircraft and weaponised aircraft than what was negotiated in 2007 and 2012," the Finance Minister noted. 

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"All the figures by the govt are correct and all the figures by Mr Rahul Gandhi are false and I have justified it... The truth has only one version and falsehood has many. That is why Mr Rahul Gandhi quoted several figures," Jaitley said. 

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A three-judge Supreme Court bench today said that detailed scrutiny of the Rafale fighter jet deal was not required.

Chief Justice of India(CJI) Ranjan Gogoi said the need and quality control of the Rafale deal wasn't in question. The top court ruled out probe into the pricing details of the deal.

"There is no occasion to doubt the decision-making process in the Rafale deal," the court said while delivering the verdict.

"We can't compel the government to purchase 126 aircraft and its not proper for the court to examine each aspect of this case. It isn't a job of the court to compare pricing details," it said, adding,"we don't find substantial matter to interfere with the issue of procurement, pricing and offset partner in Rafale jet deal." 

The top court dismissed all petitions pertaining to the Rafale fighter jet deal.

"Perception of individuals can't be the basis for roving inquiry in sensitive issue of defence procurement," the apex court added.