‘Rafale deal oxygen for IAF’

Subramanian Swamy, who tweeted his opposition to the deal on Friday, said in a statement, “There are two major issues… that would embarrass the BJP government. The first is that Rafale is (a) less fuel-efficient aircraft and lacking in essential performance characteristics that no country in the world has agreed to buy these aircraft.” He said he could even move court against the deal.

“I dare Subramanian Swamy to go to court on the Rafale purchase,” the Congress’ Digvijaya Singh tweeted.

Modi had said Friday the jets were being bought due to the IAF’s “critical operational necessity”. Hours before he announced the purchase, HT had in an exclusive report said India planned to purchase two squadrons of the fighters.

The aircraft will be purchased via the government-togovernment route, reportedly at a price tag of $4.2 billion, without any Make in India or technology transfer component, underlining the urgent need to replace the IAF’s ageing MiG-21s and MiG-27s.

The BJP also came under fire from ally Shiv Sena over another deal with France, this one related to the stalled Jaitapur nuclear plant in Maharashtra. French nuclear major Areva plans to set up six reactors there with a generation capacity of 10,000 MW, but the Sena wants the plant shifted out. Its chief, Uddhav Thackeray, is understood to have expressed his displeasure to the central government.