Sitharaman blasts Cong for doubting Rafale deal
New Delhi, Nov. 17: Terming the Congress’ allegations over Rafale fighter jet deal as “shameful”, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday that these amounted to “disservice” to the armed forces and hit out at the past UPA governments for their indecision on the deal that “potentially compromised” national security interests.
In a firm rebuttal of the charges levelled by the main Opposition party, Ms Sitharaman said the cost of each aircraft along with weapon systems was much lower than what was negotiated by the UPA government.
She alleged that the indecision of the previous UPA governments to procure the combat jets “potentially compromised” national security interests.
The Congress retaliated by accusing Ms Sitharaman of “misleading” the nation on the deal by not making public the price of the aircraft and alleged a “cover- up”.
The Opposition party had recently raised
several questions about the deal, including the rates, and accused the Narendra Modi government of compromising national interest and security while promoting “crony capitalism” and causing a loss to the public exchequer.
Ms Sitharaman said that the inter- governmental agreement with France for “emergency” procurement of the aircraft was cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security.
“These allegations are shameful... The deal was finalised following a transparent procedure,” Ms Sitharaman told a press conference.
Questioning the previous UPA governments’ “inability” to finalise the deal even after 10 years of negotiations between 2004 and 2014, the defence minister said that the Congress owed an explanation to the country over the delay in taking a decision when the Indian Air Force badly needed the jets.
She said the present government addressed the “vacuum” in the national security structure created by the indecisiveness of the UPA dispensation by “immediately” going for procurement of 36 aircraft in a fly- away condition.
Referring to the delays, she said the UPA government can be accused of “error of ommission” as the IAF was in critical need of the fighter jets.
However, when asked repeatedly about comparative cost of each aircraft negotiated by the then UPA government and the rate at which the deal was sealed last year, Ms Sitharaman said she was not running away from sharing the details and asked the officials to give the figures to the media.
India had inked an intergovernmental agreement with France in September last year for procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets at a cost of around ` 58,000 crore, nearly one- and- half years after the Prime Minister announced the proposal during a visit to Paris. The delivery of the jets is scheduled to begin from September 2019.
Congress communications in- charge Randeep Surjewala said defence preparedness cannot be a subject for politicising and accused Ms Sitharaman of using the defence ministry premises for “political mudslinging”.
“Repeated attempts at shoddy cover- up and complete non- transparency in purchase of Rafale aircraft have raised serious questions on national interests and security by the Modi government,” he said.
“You hold political press conferences in BJP offices where you indulge in political mudslinging but you can’t violate the sanctity, the integrity of the defence ministry by making its premises an occasion or a platform for political mudslinging and I think that is most unfortunate,” he said.
◗ Ms Sitharaman said that the intergovernmental agreement with France for ‘ emergency’ procurement of the aircraft was cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security