Probe everybody, including PM, in Rafale deal: Rahul Gandhi

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday saidThe Hindu is being punished for being brave by publishing reports on the Rafale fighter deal, but declined to give a clear answer to whether the party favours scrapping the Officials Secret Act (OSA).

“That’s a technical question and I won't be able to answer about the Officials Secret Act from this platform. But I do want to comment that you [The Hindu] are being punished for being brave,” he told this reporter to a query in this regard.

Mr. Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of performing a bypass surgery in the Rafale deal and asserted that Mr. Modi should offer to conduct an inquiry.EAD

The government now says it will investigate the media for the Rafale files being stolen. But the one [Mr Modi] who conducted parallel investigation…why will he not be investigated?” he asked.

He said it was clearly written in the Defence Ministry files that the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) carried out parallel negotiations in the deal.

"If the documents have been stolen, that means they are authentic and they clearly state that parallel negotiations were carried out by the Prime Minister, the price of the jets were inflated and the delivery of the jets were delayed,” he alleged.

"Let there be an investigation about the documents, but at the same time also investigate the Prime Minister's role in the Rafale [deal]," he said.