Congress running 'malicious' campaign on Rafale deal, has abandoned national interest: BJP

NEW DELHI: The ruling BJP on Friday hit out at the Congress party and alleged that the grand old part was running a "malicious campaign" against the Narendra Modi government on the Rafale fighter jets deal with France.

The saffron party further alleged that the Congress party has "abandoned" the national interest for its false propaganda.

Rejecting the Congress' charges against the government, BJP leader and Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani told reporters that the Opposition party's "malicious campaign has been exposed" in the wake of the Supreme Court verdict on the matter.

Irani also cited Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's over 90-minute reply in Parliament on the allegations made by the Congress-led Opposition over the Rafale jet deal.

Irani made these remarks while responding to a question about the allegations of corruption levelled by the Congress against the Narendra Modi government.

In an apparent dig at Congress leaders, including its president Rahul Gandhi and senior leader P Chidambaram - who targeted the government on Friday, Irani said those who are on bail are running a false propaganda.

"The Congress game of running a malicious campaign on this issue and abandoning national interest for their own politics has been exposed," the Textiles Minister said.

The Congress has been alleging corruption in the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft with Rahul Gandhi repeatedly targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue.

Earlier on Friday, P Chidambaram had alleged that the NDA government has wronged the country by reducing the number of aircraft bought under the Rafale deal as it "denied" the IAF the fighter jets it "desperately" needed and gave a "windfall" to Dassault Aviation by paying more per aircraft.

The BJP government has categorically rejected all the charges, insisting that the deal signed by the NDA government was honest and cost less than what was decided during the UPA dispensation. 

(With PTI inputs)