Confusion over Cong, HAL meet IAF top officials to hold talks with HAL
RAFALE ROW While the Congress says a few company employees approached them, HAL official asserts the request came from party
BENGALURU: Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s proposed meeting with retired and current employees of the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), on Saturday, has created a flutter as it is not clear as to who is organising the event. The Congress says it was retired HAL employees who approached the party.
State Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao said Gandhi will hold a meeting with some retired HAL employees, who were allegedly pained by some Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders claiming that the stateowned aerospace and defence company was incapable to delivering on the Rafale deal.
“There is a meeting with HAL employees on the contribution of HAL to the country. This is because our own defence minister and BJP leaders have said HAL lacks the capability to come through on the Rafale deal. We want to do this because HAL is an asset of the country and has contributed massively to the country’s defence sector,” he said.
Rao also clarified that the state Congress was not organising the event and that some former employees had decided to conduct the event and had invited Gandhi. “We are not organising this event and so we don’t have to take permission for it...some former employees and other people have decided to discuss the company’s contribution in light of the allegations. And they have invited Gandhi...” he said.
However, Suryadev Chandrashekhar, general secretary of the All India HAL Trade Union Coordination Committee, said it was the Congress that had approached the union requesting a meeting. He added that no decision has been taken yet. “Some leaders contacted us asking us to participate in a small meeting outside the HAL office here. However, we are undecided on the issue. Generally, we do not entertain requests from political parties. We will take a call on whether to participate in the proposed event on Friday,” he said.
Gopal Sutar, spokesperson for HAL said the Congress had not approached the company for permission to enter its premises.
Criticising the proposal state Bharatiya Janata Party general secratary N Ravikumar said, “..It is not correct to drag a public sector undertaking into politics in this manner.” NEW DELHI: The Indian Air Force brass will hold talks with top Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) officials on issues of production and upgradation of aircraft at the IAF commanders’ conference, amid questions being raised about the state-run plane maker’s capabilities against the backdrop of the Rafale jet deal.
Indigenisation and design and development of aircraft and other equipment will also be discussed at the two-day biannual conference that began on Thursday, an IAF spokesperson said. Last week, IAF chief BS Dhanoa questioned the ability of HAL to deliver fighter jets on schedule, detailing the time overrun in several crucial programmes including the Sukhoi-30s, Jaguars, Mirage-2000s and the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA). Dhanoa was responding to questions on a September 20 report in Hindustan Times in which former HAL chairman T Suvarna Raju had said that HAL could have built Rafale jets in India had the government managed to close the original negotiations with Dassault Aviation for 126 fighters.
The NDA government’s decision to enter into a governmentto-government deal with France to buy 36 Rafale warplanes was announced in April 2015 with the deal signed a little over a year later. This replaced the UPA regime’s decision to buy 126 Rafale aircraft, 108 of which were to be made in India by HAL using parts imported from France.
“The IAF’S resolve to wholeheartedly support the indigenous LCA programme by committing to procure 18 squadrons of LCA and its variants endorsing its capability is notable and praiseworthy,” said the minister of state for defence Subhash Bhamre inaugurated the conference. The LCA (initial operational clearance configuration) programme is running five years behind schedule. Bhamre said the IAF has the most technologically intensive and quickest military response available to the government for furthering India’s leverage. Dhanoa highlighted the need to hold an operational edge over India’s adversaries through focused operational training.