The Congress is refusing to let the controversy over the Rafale deal die down as it moved notices of privilege against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman for misleading Parliament even as the government claimed that the opposition leader was manufacturing a scam. The notices were moved by Congress leaders including its leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and others like Veerappa Moily, KV Thomas, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Rajiv Satav claiming that there was no truth in the government’s claim that the an inter governmental agreement prevented it from sharing the price of the fighter jet.

The Congress claimed that the 2008 agreement had no provision under which the sharing of such detail is prohibited.

Government refusal

The government’s flip-flop over the pricing in the Rafale contract continued as after refusing to share the price, it claimed outside Parliament that the deal finalised by Prime Minister Modi was cheaper and superior than the one being negotiated by the UPA.

Even as the fight over the pricing of the aircraft continued, the IAF sees some advantages in the new deal compared to the previous one. One such positive aspect is that the manufacturer has agreed to ensure that 75 per cent of the fleet is available for operations. This is a significant aspect as IAF has struggled to keep high operational availability. The manufacturer has also agreed to provide logistic support for two squadrons for five years. Considering the fact that the Rafales are going to be in service for at least 40 years if not more, the logistics support becomes crucial.

The government’s own flip-flops has added to the mystery behind concealing the cost. It was earlier claimed that the price of each bare Rafale was Rs 670 crore. It was shared in Parliament by MoS defence. With the inclusion of weapon systems, the cost came to Rs 1,640 per aircraft. The government had gone on to explain that the UPA and NDA deals were not comparable. One of the reasons was that the price of the aircraft was never finalised by the UPA as the deal had not concluded. It claimed that the jets being bought by the NDA government are far superior and had better technology. But it does not explain how the advanced technology helped in bringing down the cost by 9 per cent from the previous offer.

Cheaper

Adding to the mystery is the fact that Rafales were sold at much cheaper price by manufacturer Dassault Aviation than the ones offered to India. The only explanation is that India paid for customised requirements of better technology to meet its operational objectives.

The Rafale contract has also become a political controversy that the Congress is looking to exploit in the next elections. Rahul Gandhi is not ready to release pressure from the accelerator and let the Modi government breathe easy on the issue despite claims that there was no devil in the details.

The privilege notices by the Congress members were given over the statements made by Modi and Sitharaman in the Lok Sabha during the debate on the no-confidence motion on July 20.

“The prime minister has along with the defence minister deliberately mislead the House, it is, therefore, requested that this notice of breach of privilege be accepted and referred to the privilege committee for further proceedings,” the notice against the prime minister says.

The prime minister in his speech had endorsed the defence minister’s claims, which contradicted the reply of his Minister of State for Defence in the Lok Sabha on November 18, 2016 and in the Rajya Sabha on March 19, 2018, the notice says.

The prime minister’s claim of transparency in the 2008 confidentiality agreement with France is factually incorrect, untrue, and deliberately made with the intention to mislead the House, said the notice. The prime minister and his cabinet, as per the Constitution, are collectively accountable to Parliament and through it to the people of the country, it says. The minister had knowingly and intentionally misled Parliament by withholding the information that the government is obliged to reveal to Parliament, the notice against Sitharaman says.

The French government had issued a statement on Friday after Congress chief Rahul Gandhi raised the Rafale deal issue in Lok Sabha during the debate on no confidence motion. The prime minister was fully aware that the 2008 Confidentiality Agreement is regarding defence cooperation, including acquisition, purchase and transfer of technology, between the two countries, the notice submitted to the Speaker said.

The 2008 agreement does not state that 'commercial costs' of procurement of defence deals cannot be revealed, it said. "Article 1 of the 2008 agreement clearly defines 'classified information and material' as 'material which requires protection...In the interest of national security'," the notice said.

It is not specific to the Rafale jet fighters and nowhere prohibits the disclosure of purchase price to Parliament, the party argued in the letter.