AIADMK’s ‘friendly fire’ surprises government in Lok Sabha

NEW DELHI: Though friendly with BJP, deputy speaker and AIADMK leader Thambidurai surprised the government on Friday by asking two questions during the Rafale debate, both seemingly targeting the Centre but proving easy to answer.

After defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s response, AIADMK said technical finalisation of AgustaWestland helicopters was done under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. The assertion in the form of clarification appeared aimed at Sitharaman who had cited the chopper deal to target Congress.

Referring to Sitharaman’s remark that the NDA government had given contracts worth over Rs 1 lakh crore to HAL, Thambidurai asked why could the government not give Rafale contract to the public sector undertaking too.

In response, the minister denied the claim about Agusta deal and repeated her explanation for Rafale not going to HAL.

After ally Shiv Sena backed the opposition demand for a JPC probe, BJP found two partners in JD(U) and Akali Dal, which defended the government on Friday. Kaushlendra Kumar of JD(U) cited the Supreme Court verdict to back the government. Prem Singh Chandumajra of Akali Dal attacked Congress over a variety of issues.

With Rahul Gandhi present in the House, BJP’s Anurag Thakur said Congress’s debate was initiated by a leader who was “out on bail”. He claimed Congress has never done a defence deal without a “scam”.

BJP’s Nishikant Dubey said, “Congress is not bothered about farmers, the unemployed, Dalits. It is only concerned about Rafale.” He referred to six companies and some middlemen to target the Gandhi family and Congress party.