Continuing its tirade against the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Rafale deal, the Congress on Thursday alleged that the country has incurred a loss of ₹41,000 crore by striking a new deal with a French company for purchase of Rafale aircraft.
Congress leader and former Union Minister Jaipal Reddy told presspersons here that the deal was mainly aimed at helping Mr. Modi’s business friend, who floated a new company just 12 days before striking the deal. While the UPA government signed a deal for purchase of 126 aircraft, the Modi government decided to buy only 36 at higher prices, he alleged.
“The new deal has not only affected the public sector HAL, which was supposed to produce the aircraft as per previous agreement by the UPA government, but also lost the opportunity of creating 10,000 jobs for youths of Bengaluru and the country,” he claimed.
Terming the NDA government’s claim that the deal was transparent and the cost less as “far from the truth”, Mr. Reddy demanded making public details of the deal. The Congress has been demanding a probe by the Joint Parliamentary Panel (JPC) comprising members of both Houses of Parliament.
He said that Mr. Modi was yet to reply to 10 questions posed by AICC president Rahul Gandhi on the deal.
Referring to frequent hike in prices of petrol and diesel, Mr. Reddy demanded that the Centre reduce excise tax on fuel.