Rs200B paid to Rafale without a single jet delivery: Rahul
new delhi — Upping the ante over HAL’s reported cash crunch, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid Rs200 billion to France’s Dassault Aviation even though it has not delivered a single Rafale jet, but refuses to pay the dues of the Indian aerospace major.
Gandhi’s attack comes a day after he accused the Modi government of weakening public sector undertaking Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and destroying India’s strategic capability to benefit industrialist Anil Ambani.
“The PM pays 200 billion to Dassault before a single RAFALE is delivered but refuses to pay HAL Rs157 billion it is owed, forcing it to borrow Rs10 billion to pay salaries,” Gandhi tweeted.
“Meanwhile, the RM (Raksha Mantri) spins lie after lie but cannot answer my questions,” he said.
Gandhi also shared a video of his statement outside Parliament on Monday following Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s remarks in Parliament rejecting “doubts” raised by the Congress on her statement on HAL.
Speaking to reporters outside Parliament on Monday, Gandhi had alleged: “The strategy of the government is — weaken HAL, do not give it money, destroy India’s strategic capability and give the ‘gift’ to Anil Ambani. That is the plan and that is what we are trying to thwart.”
The Congress and the BJP-led NDA government have been involved in a war of words after a media report claimed that HAL, grappling with low finances, was forced to borrow Rs10 billion to pay salaries to its employees, for the first time in years.
There was another report that claimed “not a single rupee of the said Rs 1 lakh crore has come to HAL, since not a single order, as claimed, has been signed till now”. —