NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court will pronounce its verdict on Friday on petitions seeking a probe into India’s decision to buy 36
Rafale fighter jets from French company Dassault through an inter-government deal.
The verdict will be keenly awaited by both BJP and Congress. The SC refusing to allow a probe would vindicate the Narendra Modi government which has maintained that the deal was above board and was signed in national interest as the IAF is woefully short on fighter squadrons.
On the other hand, a green light for probe would be welcomed by Congress whose president Rahul Gandhi has been relentlessly attacking PM Narendra Modi and the government for what it calls is a scam. Rahul has made the Rafale deal the centrepiece of his election rallies and tweets, and a court order for a probe will only encourage him to step up the assault. With Lok Sabha polls barely four months away, Congress will relish the opportunity to keep lobbing the corruption charge at Modi.
The SC had reserved its verdict on November 14.
On Friday, a bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and K M Joseph will decide whether petitioners — advocates M L Sharma, Vineet Dhanda and Prashant Bhushan as well as politicians Sanjay Singh, Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie — were correct in alleging massive irregularities in the Rafale deal.
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