New Delhi, March 5

Former Defence Minister AK Antony today accused PM Narendra Modi of spreading misinformation on Rafale fighter jets and politicising the armed forces and urged the ruling party to stop using the military for political agenda.

Antony came to AICC headquarters today to counter Modi’s charge that the Congress-led UPA government had delayed the procurement of Rafale. He kept reading from the recently tabled CAG report in Parliament to make his case and said the original order for multi-medium role combat aircraft was placed by the then NDA government in 2001 and until 2004 the NDA government had not reached a conclusion on whether to procure the jets from a single vendor or through tendering.

“The PM is spreading misinformation. He said Congress compromised national security and delayed Rafale procurement because it was not getting commissions. I want to ask the PM is it not true that the past NDA government delayed the procurement until four years starting 2001 when the proposal for MMRCAs was first made?” he asked.

On Digvijay Singh terming the Pulwama attack an accident, Antony said: “In our times the actions of the defence forces were briefed by defence forces. I urge the PM and Amit Shah not to politicise the armed forces. Our forces are beyond politics and religion.” — TNS