Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh): Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday said that the country will get to know the “whole truth” about the Rafale fighter deal only when there is a new Prime Minister, a day after the Centre told the Supreme Court that certain papers relating to the deal were “stolen” from the Defence Ministry.
“A big debate has happened on the issue and charges of corruption have been levelled. BJP claims that if there is someone corrupt, it will get that person from anywhere in the world. But in case of Rafale, the files have been lost now. Previously after giving details in the Supreme Court, they said that the grammar was wrong. They are not coming out with the truth. I believe that a new government can only reveal the complete truth. The country needs a new Prime Minister to get the whole truth about the Rafale deal,” he told ANI.
Attorney General KK Venugopal had said in the apex court on Wednesday that certain documents pertaining to the Rafale deal were stolen from the Defence Ministry.
Asked about the Opposition demand for disclosure of the casualty figure in the February 26 air strike in Balakot in Pakistan, Yadav, a former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, said that the detailed facts about the Indian Air Force raid must be revealed to the country.
“The people of the country have realised that BJP lies the most. The same people will vote for truth this time…Our brave soldiers have destroyed a terrorist camp and people want to know more about it as well,” he told ANI in an exclusive interview.
“Samajwadi Party is not seeking evidence, it is the people who want to know. People want to know whether our borders are secure, they want to know about the anomalies in Rafale deal. BJP should not distribute a certificate of nationalism,” he said.
“I am also from a ‘sainik’ school. My seniors have also died in the line of duty. I have been with people who have fallen while fighting terrorists and Pakistan. I believe the armed forces must not be brought into politics and the public get to know the truth,” he added.
Yadav also took a jibe at BJP on the brawl between its MLA and MP which was caught on camera yesterday and said, “The people only have one objective that BJP must go. The brawl between a BJP MP and MLA in Sant Kabir Nagar (in UP) was not about getting respect. As per the information we are receiving, this was a fight for money and that’s why shoes were used by a person to hit the other.”
On the attack on Kashmiri street vendors in Lucknow on Wednesday, Yadav said, “The Prime Minister says ‘ghar main ghus ke maroonga’, and the (UP) Chief Minister goes one step ahead and says ‘thoko.’ When they use such language that shouldn’t be used in a democracy, that’s what will happen. People will be beaten up on roads. BJP is responsible for pushing people to take law in their hands.”
He also attacked the central government on the issue of Ganga cleaning and claimed that while BJP leaders had promised to clean the river, the Ganga has become even more polluted.
“They haven’t even left the air clean. The air is more polluted where the BJP people have won more,” he said.
Replying to a question about some BJP leaders using the word ‘thug’ for the SP-BSP alliance in UP, Yadav said, “They should introspect who the real thug is. They have robbed jobs. They are calling others ‘thug’ because they are short of words.”
He also claimed that Congress is with SP-BSP alliance in UP. “Congress is contesting on two seats in alliance with us,” he said.
“This is a confluence of ideology. It is an alliance of development and happiness. We have learnt from BJP and have done this alliance. BJP has 40 alliance partners, so we are still very much behind them with only 2-3 alliance partners. Congress is also in the alliance and we have two seats for them,” he said.
“The farmer is waiting for doubling of his income, the youth are waiting for jobs and the unemployed are pondering over the fact as to when there will be a surgical strike on unemployment. BJP is lying from various platforms. When they will exhaust themselves from lying, SP and BSP will confront them with truth,” Yadav said.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]