Rahul escalates Rafale allegations on Modi, Ambani after Modi's Lok Sabha jibe

Escalating his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the controversial Rafale fighter jet deal, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday alleged that the former stole Rs 30,000 crore from the defence forces and handed over the money to Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani. Earlier today, Prime Minister Modi, while replying to the debate on the motion of thanks to the President’s address in the Lok Sabha, took a jibe at Gandhi's "chowkidar chor hai" (watchman is thief), saying "Ulta chor, chowkidar ko daante" (One who robs himself blames the watchman).

Responding to the remark, the Gandhi scion hit back at the Prime Minister saying: "The Prime Minister helped steal Rs 30,000 crore from defence forces and he's done it personally. He handed that money to Anil Ambani."

Breaking his silence over the Rafale deal, Prime Minister Modi accused the Congress of trying to obstruct the strengthening of armed forces and demanded an answer from the opposition as to ‘for whose favour they want the scrapping of Rafale deal.’

“I want to ask what was the reason that not a single new generation fighter plane was provided to our Air Force in the last 30 years,” he said at the Lok Sabha. “All accusations on Rafale deal have been answered by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The Supreme Court has already studied all aspects of it. The Congress doesn’t want that our armed forces and Air Force are strengthened,” Prime Minister Modi added.

The Rafale jet deal controversy has been on the boil over the last few months. The Congress and other opposition parties have been alleging irregularities in the high-profile deal for purchase of 36 fighter jets, which the ruling BJP has outrightly denied.

(With inputs from agencies.)