Chennai: Stepping up its pressure on the BJP Government to come out with the price it signed for the Rafale fighter aircraft, the Congress on Monday insisted it would use all possible options, such as moving the courts, to bring out the “truth in the deal”.
The party, however, said it expected the Modi administration to constitute a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to go into the deal with France for acquiring 36 Rafale fighter jets for the Indian Air Force. It has been the Congress charge that the BJP Government escalated the cost of each aircraft to Rs 1,670 crore from Rs 532 crore agreed to during the UPA rule merely to benefit ‘Reliance Defence’ of Anil Ambani, which it says “has not even built a bicycle so far”.
“All options are open for us. We are open to any (method) to bring out the truth in the Rafale deal. Our president Rahul Gandhi has been seeking a JPC probe into the Rafale deal,” Rajasthan PCC chief Sachin Pilot told reporters at the state Congress headquarters, Satyamurthi Bhavan, here. His press conference was part of the Congress’ elaborate, nationwide, media blitzkrieg against the Modi Government on the Rafale deal.
“Our prime minister said the IAF is in dire need of the fighter jets and hence the number was reduced to 36. Our question is who did he consult? Did he consult the Cabinet Committee on Security? Why should the tax payers pay '1,138 crore more for each aircraft that the UPA had fixed at '532 crores? Why does the government want to spend '40,000 crore of the tax payers’ money for just 36 aircraft?” asked the former Union Minister.
He demanded to know why the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) with 70 years of experience in the field ignored and the contract given to ‘Reliance Defence’ that was incorporated as a firm just 12 days back. “And if there was urgency, why not even a single aircraft has arrived in India till today?”
Accusing the PM of “hiding behind the confidentiality clause”, Pilot said the BJP Government has not followed the mandatory requirement of ‘Defence Procurement Procedure’ for price discovery through the instrumentalities of ‘Contract Negotiation Committee’ (CNC) and ‘Price Negotiation Committee’ (PNC). “When the French President himself says the price can be disclosed to the Indian Parliament, why is the government not willing to make it public? We agree that the technology cannot be made public for reasons of national security but what stops the government from making the price known to its people?” he asked.
“The mask of the BJP has fallen off. The Narendra Modi Government is knee-deep in corruption”, said Pilot, while alleging that the BJP regime has failed to deliver any of the promises made during the 2014 Lok Sabha poll. He also repeated the Congress demand to know why the NDA Government allowed economic offenders Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi to escape.
