"You Have Less Than 6 Hours": Rahul Gandhi Tweets Arun Jaitley On Rafale

In the back-and-forth over the Rafale jet deal, Rahul Gandhi today posted a tart reminder to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley with six hours left in his 24-hour deadline to set up an all-party lawmakers' panel.

Rahul Gandhi had announced the 24-hour challenge in response to Arun Jaitley's 15 questions for the Congress in a Facebook post accusing Rahul Gandhi of "peddling untruth" on the Rafale fighter jet deal.

Last evening, the Congress president had dared Mr Jaitley to call a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) into what he called the "great Rafale robbery". He said he would wait for a response for 24 hours.

The Congress president, in his tweet, also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Anil Ambani, without naming the Reliance Group chairman. He accused PM Modi of "protecting his friend".

Mr Jaitley, thanks for bringing the nation's attention back to the GREAT #RAFALE ROBBERY! How about a Joint Parliamentary Committee to sort it out? Problem is, your Supreme Leader is protecting his friend, so this may be inconvenient. Do check & revert in 24 hrs. We're waiting!

- Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 29, 2018

Later, BJP president Amit Shah joined in the sparring, describing JPC as "Jhoothi Party Congress" and accusing Rahul Gandhi of pushing "lies" to fool the nation. "But the nation's IQ is higher than yours!" he tweeted.

Dear Mr Jaitley,

Less than 6 hrs left for your deadline on the #Rafale JPC to run out.

Young India is waiting. I hope you're busy convincing Modi Ji and Anil Ambani Ji about why they should listen to you & approve this! @ArunJaitley

- Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 30, 2018

At the centre of this political row is the deal for 36 Rafale jets from France's Dassault Aviation. The Congress alleges wrongdoings ranging from the selection of a private firm and cost overruns to lack of transparency in releasing finer details of the deal.

Rahul Gandhi alleges that the price of the jets is higher than what was negotiated by the previous Congress-led government for 126 aircraft. He also alleges that the deal was sealed at a higher price at a loss to the taxman to favour "a businessman".

Dassault Aviation Rafale deal: The Indian Air Force needs modern jet fighters to replace some of its ageing Soviet-era planes

Anil Ambani has rejected Rahul Gandhi's allegations and emphasised that the government had no role in the Rafale-manufacturing French firm Dassault picking up his company as a local partner.

Mr Jaitley alleged that "Rahul Gandhi's misadventure" was seriously compromising national security. "This (allegations on Rafale deal) is like a kindergarten or primary school debate 'Well, I was paying 500 something and you've paid 1,600 something'. That's the argument being given; it shows how little understanding Rahul Gandhi has," Arun Jaitley told news agency ANI. "Every single word in the Congress's allegation is factually false," he said.