Why did PM set higher benchmark price: Cong steps up Rafale attack

The Congress on Thursday stepped up its attack against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Rafale, accusing him of enhancing the benchmark price for the 36 fighter aircraft by Euro 3 billion (Rs 22,743 crore) and waiving off the sovereign guarantee requirement in the deal.

“Why did the Prime Minister set a higher benchmark price of Euro 8.2 Billion (₹62,166 crore) from Euro 5.2 billion (₹ 39,422 crore)? Why did he waive the sovereign guarantee requirement,” asked Congress’ chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala at a news conference in Delhi.

The main opposition party also accused the Prime Minister of compromising national interest on the issue with Congress president Rahul Gandhi alleging that the latest skeleton to tumble out of the “Rafale cupboard” is that there is no guarantee by the French government backing the deal. “The latest skeleton to tumble out of the RAFALE cupboard: No Guarantee by the French Government backing the deal. BUT, our PM says there’s a letter from the French promising to be faithful. That’s enough to call this a “Government to Government” deal?” he asked on Twitter, using the hashtag “BikGayaChowkidar”. On November 14, HT quoted a former defence ministry official as saying that sovereign guarantees aren’t always needed for such deals.

“All Intergovernmental Agreements (IGAs) are subject to negotiations including clauses about dispute resolution and sovereign guarantee. IGAs are negotiated agreements in which nothing is written in stone. There is no standard format...,” said Amit Cowshish, former chief financial advisor (acquisition).

The Congress has alleged corruption in the deal and targetted the government over the offset contract to Anil Ambani’s company.

Surjewala said the only forum to investigate corruption in the “biggest defence scam” is to institute a joint parliamentary committee probe. The Congress claims the earlier deal was scrapped and a new one signed just to provide Ambani this opportunity for an offset deal. Both the government and Reliance Group have repeatedly denied this. A BJP spokesperson did not respond to HT queries.

Defence procurement has been simplified and is happening speedily but with “due diligence intact”, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman said at a separate event.