Rahul said Sitharaman’s statement that Requests for Proposals have been issue for contracts worth Rs 73,000 crore and that they are at the technical evaluation stage does not mean that “money has been given” to HAL. (Express photo: Anil Sharma)The war of words between the Congress and the government over the Rafale deal intensified on Monday with Congress president Rahul Gandhi reiterating that Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman “lied” to Parliament and alleging that the government is weakening defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) and destroying India’s strategic capability to benefit industrialist Anil Ambani.
Minutes after Sitharaman told Lok Sabha that contracts worth Rs 26,570 crore were awarded to HAL between 2014-18 and orders amounting to Rs 73,000 crore are in the pipeline and that doubts raised in this regard are misleading, Rahul told reporters that the Defence Minister lied to Parliament.
Rahul said Sitharaman’s statement that Requests for Proposals have been issue for contracts worth Rs 73,000 crore and that they are at the technical evaluation stage does not mean that “money has been given” to HAL. “It is bunkum and a clear lie. Only 26,570 crore has been given to HAL,” he said.
The Congress president claimed that the government gave Rs 20,000 crore to France’s Dassault Aviation, the makers of Rafale jets, even though it has not supplied a single aircraft. “But why have HAL’s dues of Rs 15,700 crore not been cleared?” he asked, and accused the government of trying to weaken HAL.
“You have seen what HAL employees are saying that we are being starved, that we are being destroyed. Why was it necessary to destroy HAL? You have to understand that, because with a strong HAL, you simply cannot give that contract to anybody else. You have to undermine HAL which is what the government is doing. They are saying that HAL can’t build anything but Anil Ambani can. Anil Ambani has never built aircraft in his life.”
“HAL has built multiple, different types of aircraft. So, the strategy of the government is to weaken HAL, don’t give them money, destroy India’s strategic capability and give the gift to Anil Ambani. That is the plan and that is what we are trying to thwart,” Rahul said.
He reiterated that the Defence Minister has not answered his question on whether senior Defence Ministry and Air Force officials objected to PM Narendra Modi’s “interference” to change the 126 jets contract to 36 jets. He said Sitharaman “gave a long story” when he posed the question in Parliament, but did not answer the query and added that she should not be called Defence Minister, but Narendra Modi’s spokesperson. At another press meet, former Defence Minister A K Antony said, “When as per request of the Air Force, procuring 126 aircraft was at the final stage, who authorised the Prime Minister to reduce the number to 36?”
