Govt blames UPA for HAL exclusion from Rafale deal

Debate over contract details continues

NEWDELHI: The NDA government and the Congress locked horns over the controversial ₹59,000crore Rafale deal on Tuesday, with defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman asserting that Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) lost out on the chance to build the warplanes because of the previous UPA regime, and former defence minister AK Antony accusing Sitharaman of suppressing facts and demanding that a joint parliamentary committee probe be set up to investigate the deal.

“Dassault Aviation (the maker of Rafale jets) and HAL could not agree on production terms… The UPA government should have ensured that HAL’S offer was appealing enough for Dassault to conclude the agreement (to build 108 Rafale jets in India),” Sitharaman said, while interacting with reporters at the Indian Women’s Press Corps.

The NDA’S decision to enter into a government to govern- ment deal with France to buy 36 Rafale warplanes was announced in April 2015 with the deal signed a little over a year later. This replaced the UPA regime’s decision to buy 126 Rafale aircraft, 108 of which were to be made in India by HAL.

Sitharaman said it was for the UPA regime to answer why HAL was not chosen as a partner for the contract. “It’s not for us but for the UPA to answer as to why the agreement between Dassault and HAL did not happen.”

In a separate press conference, Antony accused the government of being guilty of “gravely compromising” national security in the Rafale deal.

“Since there is a growing perception that the Modi government’s Rafale purchase deal has more skeletons in its closet, let there be a JPC probe to bring out the truth,” the former minister said. He said the parliamentary committee could reveal the truth by poring over all the files related to the Rafale deal .

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