‘NDA made better bargain in Rafale deal’

NEWDELHI:Facing a barrage of allegations related to the Rafale fighter deal, the government on Friday defended the contract for the 36 French-made jets, arguing that it negotiated a better per unit price than the UPA regime and all procedures were followed before clearing the purchase.

Brushing off the Congress’ allegations that the ₹59,000-crore deal was overpriced, clinched by violating necessary procedures and tailored to help an industrialist as “politically motivated”, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the NDA government moved swiftly to fill gaps in the Indian Air Force (IAF)’s capabilities by placing the Rafale order.

She accused the UPA regime of not attending to the IAF’s key requirement for a decade and credited the NDA government with making the emergency purchase in a “fast and transparent” manner to plug capability gaps.

“Between 2004 and 2014, the UPA couldn’t arrive at any decision. That was the grim situation when the NDA came to power,” the minister said at a South Block media briefing.

She said the due process of clearance from the Cabinet Committee on Security was followed with active participation of then defence minister Manohar Parrikar. India floated a global tender in August 2007 to buy 126 planes but it stood cancelled after Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared in April 2015 that India would buy 36 Rafales from France under a government-to-government deal. She said while the UPA regime couldn’t take a decision for 10 years, the NDA government quickly grasped the seriousness of the situation and followed the necessary procedure to hammer out a deal with a friendly foreign country.