Rafale deal debate: Arun Jaitley flays Rahul Gandhi who said PM Modi doesn't have guts to face questions
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Continuing his attack, Gandhi also said that PM Modi does not have the guts to come to parliament to confront questions on Rafale.
Launching a scathing attack on Congress during a debate on Rafale deal in Parliament, Union minister Arun Jaitley said that Rahul Gandhi is too scared to authenticate the tape he wants to produce in Lok Sabha.
"On the last occasion, he (Rahul Gandhi) manufactured a conversation between him and the former French president. Today, he repeats the same. Today, he tried to produce a tap but he is too scared to authenticate it," Jaitley said in Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
Accusing Rahul Gandhi of lying, Jaitley said, "The country is disappointed because every word the Congress lead speaker (Rahul Gandhi) has said is a lie on the word of the Supreme Court. When the apex court speaks on every issue, it is treated as the last word, except for the jurisdiction on certain issues in Parliament. Rahul Gandhi here says each of the contentions was raised before the court. There are some people who have a natural dislike for truth, from the first to the last word, every word has spoken is a lie."
Earlier today, Rahul opened the debate and hit out at the government. He also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying his interview to news agency ANI on the first day of the new year was staged.
Rahul said the PM does not have the guts to face questions on Rafale deal and is "hiding in his room".
He also sought Speaker's permission to play an audio clip wherein a Goa minister is allegedly heard quoting Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar that the latter has Rafale files in his bedroom. However, the Speaker denied him permission after Jaitley stepped in. Rahul then sought to read the transcript of the purported statement.
"PM spoke for 90 minutes in a staged interview but still did not answer questions on Rafale," Rahul said.
The Congress president said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed that nobody was accusing him of wrongdoing on Rafale. "This is untrue. The entire nation is asking a direct question on Rafale but the prime minister could not answer a straight question even in a one-hour-long staged interview," Rahul said.