Rafale LIVE Updates: After Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Ravi Shankar Prasad hit out at Congress president over Rafale issue, Rahul Gandhi on Monday accused Defence Minister of lying even in her clarification.
"Give me 15 minutes with PM Narendra Modi for a debate on Rafale. The country will know the truth," he said. Gandhi further asked why the government was not giving dues to Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
Read More
Jan 7, 2019 2:11 pm (IST)
Congress president Rahul Gandhi Monday alleged that the "best" engineers and scientists from cash-strapped HAL will be forced to move to the Anil Ambani group that has the Rafale fighter jet contract. This will happen as Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) does not have enough money to pay salaries to its employees and Ambani needs its talent to deliver on his contract, Gandhi said.
That HAL doesn’t have enough cash to pay salaries, isn’t surprising.
Anil Ambani has Rafale. He now needs HAL’s brilliant talent pool to deliver on his contracts.
Rahul Gandhi: Today Nirmala Sitharaman lied in parliament.I'm again requesting the Defence minister and PM Modi to answer "did Air Force and Defence ministry senior officers object to your interference in Rafale deal?" Please answer in a "Yes or No." pic.twitter.com/BcbPCucPeS
Defence Minister Must Answer in Yes or No | Evoking the "Chowkidaar Chor hai" jibe once again, Rahul Gandhi says that PM Modi is afraid of a direct confrontation in the Lok Sabha over the Rafale probe. "Did IAF object to PM's interference in the Rafale deal," he questions, adding that the BJP must answer in a simple "yes" or a "no.". "Dassault hasn't delivered even a single helicopter till now but Rs 200,000 crore has been given to Dassault already. Give me 15 minutes with PM Narendra Modi for a debate on Rafale; the country will know the truth" he says.
Jan 7, 2019 1:32 pm (IST)
This war of words between the opposition party and the government was triggered after a media report claimed that grappling with low finances, HAL was forced to borrow Rs 1,000 crore to pay salaries to its employees for the first time in years. The report quoted a senior HAL management official as saying that no actual order had either been placed or a single rupee had been released to the company.
Jan 7, 2019 1:31 pm (IST)
PM Should Come out to Debate Rafale Issue With Me, Says Rahul | Addressing the media on Monday, Rahul Gandhi accuses the Defence minister of lying in the parliament and once again, threw an open challenge at the PM to debate the Rafale issue. "The BJP's plan is to weaken HAL and give the money to PM Narendra Modi's friend Anil Ambani," he says. Sharpening his attack at the centre, he says that HAL employees clearly saying they are being destroyed and this is being done on purpose so that they cannot perform as per their capability and Anil Ambani can be promoted.
Jan 7, 2019 1:26 pm (IST)
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor in a tweet, accused Sithraman of "misleading the parliament."
Her own statement in the LokSabha today confirms she has. Of the 1 lakh crore she claimed, 76000 cr is still at the Technical Committee Evaluation stage. Contracts don’t even exist for two-thirds of the amounts the Defence Minister claimed. That IS misleading Parliament. https://t.co/K5wF1M0QTx
'Congress is Sabotaging India's Security' | While Defence Miniter Nirmala Sitharaman said in Lok Sabha that doubts raised on her statement on HAL contracts was "incorrect and misleading", Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad hit out at Congress president accusing him of "sabotaging India's security". Prasad, while addressing media outside Parliament, posed three questions to Gandhi and asked him if he was lobbying for Eurofighter jets.
Jan 7, 2019 1:22 pm (IST)
Congress had on Sunday alleged that the Minister had "lied" in Parliament that government orders worth Rs one lakh crore were provided to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. Sitharaman said in Lok Sabha, "I would like to set all doubts to rest... the doubts raised in this regard are incorrect and misleading."
Jan 7, 2019 1:22 pm (IST)
Congress Doubts are Misleading, Says Defence Minister | Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday termed the doubts raised by the Congress over her statement on HAL contracts as "incorrect and misleading". In a brief statement in Lok Sabha, she said that over Rs 26,000 crore worth of contracts have been awarded and work amounting to Rs 73,000 crore are in the pipeline. Her statement comes amid a political furore over her statement in the House regarding orders placed with the defence public sector undertaking.
Earlier in the day, Sitharaman said in Lok Sabha that doubts raised on her statement on HAL contracts was "incorrect and misleading". Later, the Law Minister hit out at Congress president accusing him of "sabotaging India's security".
Prasad, while addressing media outside Parliament, posed three questions to Gandhi and asked him if he was lobbying for Eurofighter jets.
The Rafale fighter jet debate continued to rock Parliament on Monday as Sitharaman faced protests by Opposition MPs during her speech in the Lower House.
With just two days left for the winter session to end, the controversy surrounding the fighter jets has led to heated debates and adjournments in Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha.
The two Houses were earlier adjourned amid sparring between the treasury and the Opposition benches on the issue.
Opposition parties led by the Congress have been attacking the Modi government over the deal, alleging that it was struck at an exorbitant price and benefited an Indian businessman at the cost of the government-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. The charges have been denied by the government.
The Supreme Court had last year given the Narendra Modi government a clean chit on the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France and dismissed all petitions seeking a direction to the CBI to register an FIR for alleged irregularities in the deal. The apex court said there was no occasion to doubt the decision-making process in the multi-billion dollar Rafale deal.
LIVE NOW
NZ
PAK
IND