A day after Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman slammed the Congress over scam allegations in the Rafale deal, calling it 'shameful', Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi hit out at the minister with a brutal tweet.
A day after Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman slammed the Congress over scam allegations in the Rafale deal, calling it 'shameful', Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi hit out at the minister with a brutal tweet.
In his takedown, Gandhi tweeted, “Dear RM (Raksha Mantri), what’s shameful is your boss silencing you (sic).”
In a point-by-point rebuttal, the Gandhi scion questioned the government on a: Final price of each Rafale jet; b: Did PM take CCS permission before announcing purchase in Paris and c: Why PM bypassed experienced HAL & gave the deal to AA rated businessman with no defence experience.
The Congress has been questioning the Dassault Aviation deal with Anil Amabani led company Reliance Defence Limited. The Opposition party asserts that its UPA-led government had negotiated a $10.2 billion deal for 126 Rafale jets, as opposed to the current government's $8.7 billion contract for just 36 fighters without any provision for technology transfer.
On Friday, Sitharaman defended the government over the Rafale deal and said that there was no overpricing as alleged by the Congress.
"These allegations are shameful...The deal was finalised following a transparent procedure," Sitharaman told reporters.
The defence minister also called the bickering against the deal as "disservice" to the armed forces, asserting that urgent requirement of the Indian Air Force was the main reason for sealing it.
The defence minister said the final agreement for 36 Rafale jets was signed in September, 2016, after five rounds of lengthy discussions between Indian and French sides and approval by the Cabinet Committee on Security.
She said the UPA government had sat over the proposed procurement of jets for 10 years.
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