Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Anurag Thakur on Monday moved a breach of privilege motion against Congress President Rahul Gandhi for “misleading the House” about the Rafale deal. Thakur demanded that Gandhi apologise for the “falsehoods” in his speech in the Lok Sabha on July 20 during the no-confidence motion against the government.

The Congress has accused the government of overpaying for the fighter aircraft and claimed that the deal has benefited businessman Anil Ambani. Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s allegations were bolstered by former French President Francois Hollande’s claim in September that the Indian government had proposed the name of Ambani’s Reliance Defence for the offset obligations in the deal. The Supreme Court had last week rejected all petitions seeking an inquiry into India’s procurement of Rafale fighter jets from France. The court said it was satisfied that the process for procurement had been complied with.

In his notice, shared on Twitter, Thakur described Gandhi’s price comparison of the 36 aircraft with that during the UPA regime’s “a figment of imagination, incorrect and utter falsehood”. “For reasons of national security, the Government of India has not given out the exact details but has already indicated that the price of the basic aircraft being purchased now as per the 2016 agreement is 9% cheaper and the price of the weaponised aircraft is 20% cheaper compared to the price being negotiated by the UPA,” Thakur said.

The BJP MP said the government had submitted a comparative chart of these prices in a sealed cover to the Supreme Court. “Not only are his figures factually false, they fail to take into consideration the impact of the escalation clause contained in the 2007 offer,” the notice read. “Further, he [Gandhi] falsely attempts to compare an ordinary aircraft – a flying instrument with a weaponised aircraft. Obviously, the cost of the weaponry will be much higher.”

Meanwhile, Union minister Jitendra Singh had demanded that Gandhi apologise to the people of the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the armed forces after the Supreme Court “exposed his lies” on the Rafale jet deal, PTI reported.

The Congress has questioned the basis of the Supreme Court judgement and accused the government of misleading the court. It has renewed calls for a Joint Parliamentary Committee inquiry into the agreement with France.