Says Rahul made ‘baseless allegations’

The BJP on Friday moved a privilege motion against Congress president Rahul Gandhi for what it termed the “baseless allegations” against the government over the Rafale deal during the debate on the “no-confidence motion” initiated by the Telugu Desam Party.

Prahlad Joshi, MP, sent the notice on behalf of the party. “... [H]e [Rahul] made serious, baseless and wild allegations against the government and particularly against the Prime Minister with regard to the Rafale deal,” Mr. Joshi said in a statement, adding that it had been made to “mislead the members and the House” and “to bring disrepute to the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister”.

Mr. Gandhi said the price negotiated by the UPA regime was ₹520 crore a plane, but when Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to France and due to “some magic powers”, it rose to ₹1,600 crore.

Mr. Joshi’s statement said: “He [Mr. Gandhi] stated that under pressure from the PM, [Defence Minister] Nirmala Sitharaman told lies to the nation. He alleged that the PM cheated his own Army on dealing with China on the Doklam issue.”