Following the Supreme Court’s clean chit to the Rafale deal, the BJP on Thursday lost no time in launching an all-out attack on the Congress and its ex-chief Rahul Gandhi demanding an apology from him. An undeterred Rahul hit back latching on to a separate judgment by Justice KM Joseph, who said the “petitioners can approach the CBI for registering an FIR” to demand a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe.

While BJP president Amit Shah led the charge, Rahul did so for the Congress claiming that the judgment is not a clean chit for the Government and that there should be a parliamentary panel probe as Justice KM Joseph has left open a “huge door” for investigation.

The Congress had used the Modi Government’s purchase of 36 Rafale jets from French aerospace major Dassault Aviation for the IAF at a cost of Rs 59,000 crore as one of the major issues in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, combining it with its “Chowkidar Chor Hai” slogan. The pitch, however, was rejected by the voters as the Congress could win just 52 Lok Sabha seats.

The grand old party may raise the issue during the Parliament session in consonance with other like-minded parties. In a series of tweets, Shah said the judgment of the apex court has proved that the disruption of Parliament over the Rafale fighter aircraft deal was a “sham”. “Supreme Court’s decision to dismiss the review petition on #Rafale is a befitting reply to those leaders and parties who rely on malicious and baseless campaigns,” he said.

Countering the BJP narrative, Rahul took to twitter using hashtag “BJPLiesOnRafale” and tweeted, “Justice Joseph of the Supreme Court has opened a huge door into investigation of the RAFALE scam. An investigation must now begin in full earnest. A JPC must also be set up to probe this scam.”