Sanjha Morcha

Rahul accuses Jaitley of lying, seeks to know Rafale’s purchase price

File photo of Rafale fighter jet.

New Delhi, February 9

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused Finance Minister Arun Jaitley of speaking a “lie” about UPA Defence Ministers not having disclosed cost of defence purchases, and demanded the government disclose the price of each Rafale fighter plane.G

Dear Mr Jaitlie,

You said the UPA never released prices of Defence purchases?

To nail your lie, here are 3 Parliamentary replies by the UPA with full transparency on pricing.

Now do ask our Raksha Mantri to tell India how much each RAFALE jet cost.

Gandhi, in a tweet in which he addressed Jaitley as “Jaitlie”, posted three written answers given by former Defence Minister A.K. Antony in which he gave acquisition cost of 42 Sukhoi-30 MKI aircraft, the upgrade cost of Mirage 2000 and acquisition cost of Admiral Gorshkov (now INS Vikramaditya).

“Dear Mr Jaitlie, you said the UPA never released prices of Defence purchases? To nail your lie, here are 3 Parliamentary replies by the UPA with full transparency on pricing. Now do ask our Raksha Mantri to tell India how much each Rafale jet cost,” he said.

Jaitley had on Thursday slammed the Congress for “manufacturing” corruption charges against the government in questioning the deal to purchase Rafale fighter jets from France.

In his reply to the debate on the Budget, he had also said he had with him responses from Defence Ministers of previous United Progressive Alliance governments who had not shared details of armament purchases due to security concerns.

Congress lists questions on Rafale for govt, says India demands answers

Meanwhile, Congress communications in-charge Randeep Surjewala also accused the government of “doublespeak” and “sacrificing” national interests.

He cited instances during the previous UPA government when details of every defence deal were made public and placed before Parliament.

“As the Modi government stumbles and fumbles, hides and conceals, indulges in doublespeak, sacrifices national interest and refuses to answer on loss to public exchequer, India will continue to demand answers,” he told reporters.

He listed a series of questions for the government, including on the price, the secrecy surrounding the deal, the government’s silence on the issue and alleging that prior permission of the Cabinet Committee on Security was not taken.

“What is the price per aircraft of the 36 Rafale aircrafts being purchased by the Modi government? Did Raksha Mantri Nirmala Sitharaman not agree to share the price of Rafale aircrafts in a press conference at the Raksha Bhawan on November 17, 2017? Why are the Prime Minister, Defence Minister and Finance Minister hiding the ‘purchase price’?” he asked.

According to Surjewala, while Sitharaman refused to disclose the price on grounds of a “secrecy agreement”, Jaitley did not do so for reasons of “national security”.

“Isn’t a full disclosure of price of Rafale aircrafts in national interest? Why are two ministers of the government speaking in two different voices? Who are they trying to shield? Why is the price of aircrafts shrouded in secrecy and cover-up?” he asked.

Surjewala wanted to know whether the per aircraft price of Rafale, according to international bids opened on December 12, 2012, comes to USD 80.95 million (Rs 526.1 crore) as against the Modi government’s per aircraft negotiated price of USD 241.66 million (Rs 1,570.8 crore) as per current exchange rates.

He also asked whether Qatar had purchased 12 Rafale fighter jets in November 2017 for USD 108.33 million per aircraft (Rs 694.80 crore), according to current exchange rates.

“If this is correct, why has the Modi government paid such an astronomically higher price for Rafale aircrafts?” According to Surjewala, Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon aircrafts were found equal on all technical requirements by the Indian Air Force.

Did Eurofighter Typhoon give a written offer to then Defence Minister Arun Jaitley on July 4, 2014, offering to reduce prices by 20 per cent, he asked.

“Why did PM Modi and Defence Minister then not ask both the companies to submit fresh bids through the ‘inter-governmental agreement route’ so as to get the lowest price in favour of India’s public exchequer?”

“Why was no prior permission of the Cabinet Committee on Security taken by PM Modi? Why was the Defence Procurement Procedure violated with impunity? Why are the Prime Minister, Defence Minister and Finance Minister completely silent on this issue?” he went on to pose.

The Congress leader also questioned the government on why Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, a government PSU, was superseded for a Rs 30,000 crore ‘offset contract’ in favour of a private company.

This was despite the fact that HAL had already signed a ‘work share agreement’ on March 13, 2014 with Dassault Aviation, he said.

The government has denied the Congress charge that there is a huge scam in the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France. PTI