New Delhi, Feb 6 (UNI) Continuing his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on th deal for rafale fighter jets, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that the deal was a ‘scam’.
Talking to reporters here, Mr Gandhi said,’’the Defence Minister says that we will not reveal the amount paid for buying Rafael aircrafts. What does this mean? This only means there is a scam. Modi ji personally went to Paris, he changed the deal. The whole country knows it.’’
In reply to a question, Ms Nirmala Sitharaman said that the details of the deal with France for the Rafale fighter jets cannot be disclosed as per the inter-governmental agreement as it is 'classified information'.
Questioning the stance taken by the Defence Minister, Rahul, in a post on the social media, said,’’RM says the price negotiated for each RAFALE jet by the PM and his "reliable" buddy is a state secret.
Action Points
1.Informing Parliament about the price is a national security threat
2.Brand all who ask, Anti National.’’
On Monday, Mrs Sitharaman, in a written reply to a question by Samajwadi Party Rajya Sabha member Naresh Agrawal seeking to know why the government was not disclosing details of the deal in which Congress has alleged that the price of the fighter jets being paid by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government is higher than what was finalised by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in a previous deal, said,’’as per Article 10 of the inter-governmental agreement between governments of India and France on the purchase of Rafale aircraft, the protection of the classified information and material exchanged under IGA is governed by the provisions of the Security Agreement signed between Government of France and Government of India in 2008.’’
Addressing a press conference here, AICC senior spokesperson and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad alleged that there was non transparency in the deal and asked the Prime Minister to make the position clear with regard to the price for the fighter jets negotiated by the NDA government.
Addressing a joint press conference with AICC media incharge Randeep Surjewala, Mr Azad said,’’During the Manmohan Singh government, the deal to buy the 126 Rafale aircraft was fixed at Rs 526 crores per aircraft, while we were informed that the cost of an aircraft has now been fixed at Rs 1570 crore.
In the previous government, eight fully-manufactured aircraft were supposed to come from France, and all other aircraft were to be manufactured by the government company Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd under technology transfer.
Mr Surjewala said that the defence procurement procedure was bypassed in the deal to procure such aircraft.
‘’Mr. Modi has bypassed the defence procurement procedure in the deal for Rafale fighter jets, including the clearance from the Cabinet committee for security,’’he said.
Congress leaders said that 48 hours before Mr. Modi's visit to France, Foreign Secretary had said that the purchase of Rafael aircraft purchase deal is not on the agenda at the meeting of heads of the two countries.
‘’Then what happened in a period of 48 hours that this deal happened. It gives the impression of a scam and the Prime Minister should clarify the situation in this regard,’’ Mr Surjewala said.
He said that besides Rafale jets, the Euro Fighter Typhoon also fulfilled all the requisite standards.
‘’The company promised to reduce its price by 20 percent as compared to the Rafale fighter jets. The government must also clarify the situation in this regard,’’Mr Surjewala said.
UNI AR SHK 2011