Amid trading of charges over the Rafale fighter aircraft deal, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe to get to the truth of what he said was a global issue.
After Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati’s recent shocker over poll alliances in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, the demand for a JPC probe into Rafale deal by Akhilesh is a shot in the arm for Congress chief Rahul Gandhi.
So far Rahul Gandhi has been ploughing the lonely furrow and the SP is the first major political party which has come out in support of his campaign against the fighter aircraft deal.
“We demand a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the Rafale deal. Without a JPC, the truth will not come out... the issue has now become global,” Akhilesh said in Lucknow on Monday while addressing party workers who participated in the social justice cycle rally that concluded in Delhi on Sunday.
Rahul has been slamming the Centre, especially the PM, over the Rafale jet deal, saying a JPC probe is the only way to find out the truth in the matter. The Congress campaign against the PM has largely been a solo show but with Akhilesh jumping the bandwagon, the ‘UP ke ladke’ might be up for a fresh tango ahead of the 2019 general election.
Rahul and Akhilesh were famously referred to as ‘UP ke ladke’ after their parties forged a pre-poll alliance ahead of the 2017 UP Assembly election.
Hitting out at the health insurance scheme Ayushman Bharat launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, Akhilesh said, “This scheme will weaken the health infrastructure in public sector and immensely benefit private hospitals and nursing homes.”
The SP chief said that the Samajwadi Party government had provided free medical treatment for serious ailments related to heart, liver, kidney and even treatment of cancer.
Claiming that his government had constructed several medical colleges for improving the health infrastructure in UP, Akhilesh said that the present BJP regime had done nothing to expand medical services.
