Centre says it made a better bargain
NEWDELHI:Facing a barrage of allegations relating to the Rafale fighter deal, the government on Friday defended the contract for the 36 French-made jets arguing that it negotiated a better 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’s capabilities by placing the Rafale order.
Reacting to the minister’s comments, Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala accused the BJP and Sitharaman of using the “sacrosanct premises” of the defence ministry for “political mudslinging.” She accused the UPA regime of not attending to the IAF’s key requirement for a decade and credited the NDA government for making the emergency purchase in a “fast and transparent” manner to plug capability gaps. Surjewala asked, “What was the need to buy aircraft on emergency basis when regular purchase had already been negotiated?”
“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 PM Narendra Modi declared in April 2015 that India would buy 36 Rafales from France under a government-togovernment deal.
Surjewala asked how did the PM take a unilateral decision to buy the planes, bypassing the mandatory defence procurement procedure and in the absence of an inter-governmental agreement with France at that time.
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 procedures to hammer out a deal with a friendly foreign country.
She said it was “shameful” that the previous government failed to serve the military’s interests and was now “bickering” over price.
The Congress on Tuesday alleged that each fighter would cost ₹1,570 crore under the deal struck by the NDA government compared to ₹526 crore under the older deal. The minister said the per unit cost of a jet was “absolutely” and “undoubtedly” lesser than what the UPA regime was negotiating.