RaGa answers what is ‘shameful’

Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday took on Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman attacking the Congress for “shameful” act of exposing Prime Minister Modi’s hand in the huge Rafale combat aircraft purchase scam.

“Dear RM (Raksha Mantri), what’s shameful is your boss silencing you,” he tweeted, asking her to otherwise answer three questions she skipped in an official Press conference here on Friday.

He remains focused on Modi’s personal corruption dug out by his party as he wants to use the charge of compromising the national security just to help “one businessman” in the Gujarat elections.

Rahul urged the defence minister in his tweet to answer three questions:

Final price of each Rafale jet?

Did PM take CCS (Cabinet Committee on Security) permission before announcing purchase in Paris?

Why PM bypassed experienced HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) & gave the deal to AA rated businessman with no defence experience?”

Rahul posed these questions because the deal clinched by PM Modi for 36 aircrafts, which costs Rs 1570.8 crore each is almost three times the price of Rs 526.1 crore per aircraft negotiated by the UPA government to purchase 126.

Everyone in the CCS, including then defence minister Manohar Parrikar, were taken by surprise over Modi announcing the new deal during his France trip, without first cancelling the deal finalised by the UPA government in 2012.

The Congress is also accusing Modi for damaging the interests of the publicsector HAL that would have acquired the technology under the deal negotiated by the UPA government to have indigenous capability to produce more such aircrafts indigenously.