Rafale deal, PNB scam issue likely to stall major bills

New Delhi: Top echelons of the Modi government have received feedback that the Opposition seems to be slowly gaining an upper hand in their campaign against the government over various issues, including the Rafale deal and the PNB scam.

Sources disclosed that senior Cabinet ministers are expected to meet soon to chalk out a strategy on how to put the government’s views on the issues and counter Opposition’s allegations firmly.

With Parliament’s Budget Session reconvening on March 5, the government is also wary that the twin issues could stall its key bills from getting passed.  

With the Congress planning to go full throttle against the Modi government over the two issues along with others, in the second half of the Budget Session of Parliament, the government as well as the ruling party will also apprise it leaders about the “facts” in the PNB scam and how to counter allegations regarding the Rafale deal. The Parliament will meet after the break on March 5 and the budget session will culminate on April 6.

While the Congress had dubbed the Indo-French Rafale deal as the “biggest scam” of the Modi government and sought a white paper, the government had told Parliament that the deal’s details were “classified information” and could not be disclosed. The ruling BJP and the Congress have been blaming each other for the PNB fraud, with the former calling it the latter’s “orginal sin”.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi has squarely blamed the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the PNB fraud and demanded that he should reply how the fraud took place.