New Delhi: The Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) finally raised its voice against the Rafale deal. The regional outfit which is in power in Odisha has demanded a white paper on the multi-crore defence deal that has now appears to become a major scam.
Interestingly, the BJD Lok Sabha MP Kalikesh Narayan Singdeo has added new angle to the scam. Singhdeo has wondered how come Qatar has bought the same fighter planes at a lesser price.
” Questions of probity and questions of procedure do exist. Questions arise on pricing. It is well known that Qatar has bought the same planes at much cheaper price,” said Singhdeo while speaking in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. With these doubts lingering about the deal, the members of the House could not be expected to be “mute spectators”
He has demanded that the government should come out with a White Paper on the Rafale deal agreement that was announced by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to France in 2015
“Under the UPA, technology was to be transferred. The government should come with a white paper on why technology transfer was not done.”
If “murky defence deals” inked by the Congress scarred it, such deals were bound to scar the NDA in future, he cautioned.
The BJD MP though did not lent his voice to the oppositions’ demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe but said, “There needs to be a closer look at the deal.” ” People of India should know what went behind the decision,” he asserted.
The government, earlier in the day, rejected the oppositions’ demand for a JPC probe in the deal in the Lok Sabha. Asserting that there was no corruption, the government accused the Congress, “which has a legacy of scams” like Bofors and AugustaWestland, of inventing allegations against a clean government.
