At a time when Telangana chief minister and protagonist of non-Congress and non-BJP federal front, Biju Janata Dal joined chorus with Congress and other opposition parties in demanding joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into Rafale deal.
KCR who had a one-on- one meeting with BJD chief and Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik in Bhubaneswar last week returned with the hope that the latter would join him in forging the non-Congress and non-BJP federal front.
But the Odisha ruling party joined other opposition parties in cornering BJP on Rafale. The other parties that demanded JPC probe were Trinamool Congress , CPM and Shiv Sena, an ally of BJP. All these parties backed the Congress demand for JPC probe.
BJD MP in the Lok Sabha Kailsah Narain Singh Deo said there needs to be a closer look on at the deal.
BJD in fact has been silent throughout the Rafale controversy. Breaking the silence, Deo said,” questions of probity and questions of procedure do exist. Questions arise on pricing. It is well known that state of Qatar has brought the same planes at much cheaper rate.”
And of course, Trinamool Congress has been vocal on the issue. TMC leader Sougata Roy said, “Jaitley has lost his touch. We don’t want to hear what happened in the past.” Roy rubbished the finance minister Jaitley’s comparison between Bofors and Rafale in response to Rahul Gandhi hard-hitting question on the deal.
What it clearly indicates is that BJD has no inhibition in making common cause with Congress against BJP which goes against the very basic objective of the idea of KCR’s federal front.
Interestingly TRS of KCR has not taken a view on Rafale controversy yet,