New Delhi: Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday hit back at Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who thanked the Supreme Court for its Rafale order, where it dismissed the Centre's objections on the use of three documents.
Sitharaman accused Rahul Gandhi of gross contempt of court, saying that he attributed to SC what it never said in its order on Rafale.
Addressing a press conference here today, Sitharaman said, "We all know the Congress president probably doesn't even read half a paragraph, but here, by saying that the court has accepted and by also saying that the court has said 'Chowkidaar chor hai,' these verge on contempt of court."
Earlier today, the Supreme Court in a unanimous judgment rejected the preliminary objections raised by the Central government, as a result the Rafale review petitions will now be heard on merits. The court will look into the documents published.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi then claimed that the apex court had made it clear that Prime Minister Narendra Modi committed a theft.
Rahul Gandhi then challenged Modi to a debate on the Rafale military aircraft deal, which the Congress claims involved corruption, a charge repeatedly rejected by the government.
Gandhi recalled a recent interview by the prime minister, in which Modi had said the Supreme Court had given a clean chit to his government on the Rafale deal.
Now the SC has made it clear that 'chowkidarji' (watchman) has committed a theft, Gandhi told reporters here after filing his nomination papers from the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency.
The court rejected the Centre's claim of privilege over the three documents that were annexed by the former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, journalist Arun Shourie and lawyer Prashant Bhushan in their plea.
The plea sought the recall and review of 2018 judgment giving clean chit to the government for acquiring 36 ready to fly Rafale fighter jets.
Read: BIG SETBACK FOR GOVT: SC dismisses Centre's objections over Rafale's stolen docs
