‘PM Modi lacks guts, hiding in his room’: Rahul Gandhi’s Rafale attack

New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Centre today saying the Prime "does not have guts" to come to Parliament to confront questions on the issue and "hides" in his room.

“Prime Minister does not have guts to come to Parliament to confront questions on Rafale,” Rahul said while initiating discussion on Rafale fighter jets deal in the Lok Sabha.

The Congress chief also insisted on playing an audio clip purportedly of a Goa minister quoting Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar as saying that files related to the Rafale jet deal were lying "in his bedroom".

However, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley demanded if he can authenticate it, but the Congress leader said he would not do so.

Following this, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan disallowed Rahul's demand saying statements have to be authenticated before being made on the floor.

Rahul further demanded forming a Joint Probe Commission in the matter saying “the entire country is pointing finger at PM Modi”.

“The Supreme Court verdict stated that probing Rafale scam does not come under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, but they never said that JPC shouldn't be formed,” he added.

The Congress leader also rejected PM Modi's claim in an interview that there was no personal allegation against him, saying this is not true as the entire nation is asking him direct question. "He (Modi) spoke for 90 minutes in a staged interview but still did not answer questions on the Rafale issue," Gandhi said.

Is it not true that defence ministry officials objected to the new price of Rs 1600 crore, Rahul said, accusing the Prime Minister of favouring his "dear friend" and "failed businessman" Anil Ambani.

(With inputs from PTI)