Rafale Deal: Post Centre's application to fix 'error', NCP asks Supreme Court to reopen case

Barely hours after the Centre approached the Supreme Court for a "factual correction" in paragraph 25 of its December 14 judgment on Rafale fighter jet deal, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Saturday requested the top court to "reopen" the case. The correction was in regard to two sentences, which made a reference about the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report and Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

Speaking to news agency PTI, NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said, "We demand the resignation of the Law Secretary, Law Minister, Attorney General and Solicitor General who are responsible for the wrong affidavit due to which SC arrived at the judgement given on December 14".

"The Supreme Court should reopen the case in the light of (Centre's) correction application and we request CJI (Chief Justice of India) to reexamine the case," Malik went on to claim further.

Read | Congress says government lied in Supreme Court about CAG report on Rafale pricing

In a big relief to the Central government, the Supreme Court on Friday dismissed all the petitions seeking an investigation into alleged irregularities in the Rs 58,000 crore Rafale deal, saying that there is no doubt in the process of acquisition of the fighter jets. It also said that it is not for the Supreme Court to compare the price. 

In its December 14 judgement, had noted that the pricing details have been shared with CAG, and the report of the CAG has been examined by the PAC. The issue of CAG and PAC was mentioned in para 25 of the judgement of the top court which had held that there were no irregularities in the procurement of 36 Rafale jets from France.

Following the Supreme Court's verdict on Rafale fighter jet deal, the BJP launched a scathing attack on Congress president Rahul Gandhi and demanded his apology for spreading lies about the Rafale deal.

Read | Supreme Court verdict on Rafale: ‘Every deal is not a Bofors deal,’ says BJP

The Congress president, however, remained firm about his claims and said that he will prove that Prime Minister Narendra Modi helped Anil Ambani’s Reliance to get the deal.