"Triumph of Truth", says Shah after SC verdict on Rafale deal

New Delhi: Few hours after the Supreme Court gave a clean cheat to Modi government's Rafale deal on Friday, ruling BJP national president Amit Shah made a scathing attack on the Congress president, Rahul Gandhi, and asked for an apology to the people of the country for "misleading them with the baseless allegations."

During a press conference at the party headquarters here, Shah said "Oldest political party, Congress's president Rahul Gandhi misleads the people of the country with an unholy intention to gain the political mileage. He must apologise to the people of the nation and the defence system."

He also claimed that the apex court's judgment is a big blow to the Congress party. "The ruling is a slap on Congress's face. Now, BJP wants to know the source of information to Rahul Gandhi. He must reveal it," Shah mentioned. "It is the triumph of the truth," the BJP national president claimed.

Shah further questioned Gandhi's right to question the BJP on the Rafale deal when his own party was plagued by a "history of corruption". "For so long, they kept saying that the country's watchman is a thief, but the truth has finally been revealed."

"Why the Congress government delayed in finalising the deal for more than seven years? Why there were no government to government level agreements during the previous regime?" he asserted.

The incumbent BJP is also ready to have a discussion on Rafale deal on the floor of the House. "The baseless allegations also risk the national security," the party claimed.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said earlier in the day that it had studied the matter "extensively" and that it was "satisfied that there is no occasion to doubt the deal process."

The ruling came on four petitions that had asked the apex court to set up a court-monitored probe into the signing of the Rafale deal on the alleged overpayment by the NDA government for the Rafale jets but also promoted crony capitalism.