Veerappa Moily, Congress: In govt records, Defence Ministry & IAF Chief wanted HAL to be involved. IAF Chief at tha… https://t.co/pdoX7afvIN — ANI (@ANI) 1545295277000

(With inputs from agencies)

Prakash Javadekar hits back at Veerappa Moily for criticising IAF chief

NEW DELHI: A day after Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa said that the Supreme Court has given a "fine judgment" on the Rafale jet deal, senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily on Thursday accused the IAF chief of "lying and suppressing the truth"."In government records, the defence ministry and IAF chief wanted HAL to be involved. IAF chief at that time visited HAL with Dassault and found it (HAL) competent and declared that they have the expertise. I think IAF chief (Dhanoa) is not fine, he is lying, he is suppressing the truth," Moily was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.Moily's remarks follows Congress' allegations that the Modi government had favored Anil Ambani's Reliance Defence as Dassault Aviation's offset partner in place of state-owned Hindustan Aeronautical Limited.The Congress has also alleged irregularities in the deal for 36 aircraft, claiming that the government is buying them from France at a price much higher than the one that was being negotiated by the previous UPA government.Slamming Moily, BJP MP Subramanian Swamy said the Congress leader's remarks were not just a personal insult to the Air Force chief but to the nation. He asked Moily to issue a public apology.Moily, however, retracted his remarks later."The question is, is he justifying it on the basis of the Supreme Court judgement which is flawed? In the light of this, whether the IAF chief can again certify that this is fine. I am asking him that question. I never called him a liar. If this HAL is fine ... Both of them cannot be fine," Moily said.“I am not going to comment on the judgment but the Supreme Court has given a very fine judgment. It has also said that this plane is badly needed,” Dhanoa had said yesterday.He had also cautioned against politicisation of defence purchases, suggesting that this had earlier led to the delay in the Army acquiring the Bofors guns.Last week, the Supreme Court had dismissed petitions seeking a probe into the multi-billion dollar jet deal."There was no substantial evidence of commercial favouritism to any private entity," the bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said on the issue of an offset partner in its ruling on a batch of petitions.