Sparks, paper planes fly as Rafale row hits Parliament ‘Nation is pointing a finger at you’: Rahul dares PM to debate

NEW DELHI: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a face-to-face debate on the controversial Rafale jet fighter deal, escalating his onslaught on the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government and refusing to drop demands for a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the purchase.

Gandhi demanded answers from Modi to four questions he posed at a press conference, after the government on the floor of the Lok Sabha again rejected a JPC probe, saying the Supreme Court had already satisfied its “conscience” on the deal.

Gandhi wanted to know whether any objections had been raised by the Indian Air Force (IAF) to the 2016 contract for 36 Rafale fighter planes that replaced one for 126 aircraft the previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) finalised but didn’t sign; whose decision it was to sign a new contract , whether it was the prime minister’s or the IAF’S, and if it wasn’t the latter’s, whether it had objected to a price increase; and why an offset deal had been given to businessman Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group, which had never made a plane, at the expense of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), which has been building planes for 70 years.

“How did Make in India become Make in France?” Gandhi asked, referring to the NDA government’s decision to buy the 36 planes in a flyaway condition from Dassault Aviation. Under the Upa-era deal, HAL was to manufacture 108 of the 126 planes in India.

“Just give me 20 minutes with the Prime Minister one-on-one on Rafale and then you decide what is what. But the Prime Minister doesn’t have the guts...,” Gandhi said.