Rafale deal: Jaitley rules out setting up JPC, blasts Cong

With the first four days of winter session of Parliament washed out over various protests, Jaitley said the Opposition Congress will prefer disruptions over discussion on Rafale during the remainder of the session.

The Congress, which was not a petitioner before the apex court, wants the Rafale deal to be referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to go into the price arrived at by the BJP government versus the one negotiated by the previous UPA regime, as also how billionaire Anil Ambani’s group with virtually no experience in manufacture of fighter jets was selected as an offset partner for the deal. On the Congress claiming ‘ambiguity’ in the Supreme Court judgment that said the deal has been examined by the CAG and is now before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Jaitley said defence transactions go to the CAG for an audit review, which then are referred to the PAC.