The Congress has given a blow-by-blow account of the Rafale deal timeline

The Congress has made public a purported timeline on the Rafale deal that suggests deep divisions within the Narendra Modi government and multiple attempts to steamroller objections and words of caution from within.

So specific is the blow-by-blow account, which the Congress said is based on “verified” file notings, that the Opposition party dared the Modi government to make the files public.

The party also held the Prime Minister directly responsible for overriding the objections to the absence of a sovereign guarantee and “enhancing the ‘benchmark price’ for Rafale by 3 billion euros (Rs 22,743 crore)”.

“They all exist in government records.... We held on to it till the facts were verified. It has been verified…,” Congress communications chief Randeep Surjewala told a news conference on Thursday. “If we are wrong, let the government make all the files public,” he added.

The disclosures came a day after the Centre told the Supreme Court that there was no French sovereign guarantee although the Modi government has been insisting it was a “government-to-government” deal.

The offensive by the Congress suggests that irrespective of the impending court verdict, the party will focus on the steadystream of disclosures that underscore one contradiction after another in the versions being put out by the government. The Congress is not associated with the court case.