LIVE: Used to Hear About A Certain 'Earthquake', But Saw Planes Flying in House, Says PM Modi

'No Earthquake, Only Paper Planes' | Taking on the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "I used to hear about a certain earthquake that will hit us all, instead we only say paper planes flying in the House." Rahul Gandhi has earlier said that if he is allowed to speak in the Lok Sabha for five minutes then he can cause earthquake with certain explosive revelation.

"As many as 219 bills were tabled in the last five years. This House has passed the Upper Caste quota bill, the GST bill, the Aadhaar bill and cleared the stringent laws to combat the menace of black money and corruption," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said. 

Today, India Has Carved a Niche for Herself | Speaking about his governments accomplishments, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "Today, the country’s self-confidence is at an all time high, which, I think is a very good sign as it can boost development. The world today is discussing the issues of global warming and India has made an effort for the formation of the International Solar Alliance to combat this problem."

PM Narendra Modi's Last Lok Sabha Speech | "Ours was the first government with full majority support after three long decades," said Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Adding that it was former PM, Late Atal Bihari Vajpayee who had assembled together a coalition without the Congress, PM Modi said that it was in 2014 that a government came to power with such a thumping majority.

'PM Modi's Rafale Defence is Demolished' | Stepping up his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Rafale issue, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday cited a media report to claim that the PM's argument of better pricing and faster delivery of the jets to defend the deal has been "demolished". His attack came after a report in The Hindu which claimed that the Rafale deal was not on"better terms" than the UPA-era offer. "The PM defended his personal RAFALE bypass deal on 2 counts: 1. Better Price 2. Faster Delivery. Both have been demolished by the revelations in the Hindu today," he tweeted.

The French government has only provided a 'Letter of Comfort' signed by its Prime Minister. In case of any breach of agreement, India would have to first settle it through arbitration directly with the French vendors.

'PM Modi's Bluster Has Gone over Rafale' | The "revelations on Rafale, one after the other...Today you see in the Hindu newspaper, that the entire argument for the new deal, the idea that it was cheaper and the idea that planes were needed quickly, has been demolished. Finished," Rahul Gandhi said. "So there is not a single step for the prime minister to stand on, you can see it in his face, you can see the expression, you can see that, that bluster has gone and that is not Rahul Gandhi, that is the Congress party, Congress workers and all of you," he said addressing his party's lawmakers. "We are defeating the BJP in the ideological fight," he asserted.

Rafale a 'Systematic Robbery' | Addressing the Congress Parliamentary Party's general body meeting, Rahul Gandhi described the Rafale deal as a "systematic robbery" from the Indian defence forces and alleged that not just the fighter jet contract, but every single deal under the Modi government had been managed in the same way. One man is chosen and then the whole procedure is bypassed, Gandhi alleged. The meeting was attended by Sonia Gandhi, former PM Manmohan Singh, Mallikarjun Kharge and leader of opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad.
 

One of the major criticisms of the Modi government's deal has been that it reduced the number of fighter jets to be acquired from 126 to 36.

The Rajya Sabha was on Wednesday adjourned sine die after it passed some Bills including Interim Budget and Finance Bill for 2019-20 without debate. Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu in his customary address at the close of the session rued that precious time of the House was lost in protests, stalling proceedings. The Budget Session of Parliament commenced on January 31.

CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury claimed that the Indian taxpayer lost €574 million due to the Rafale deal.

CAG says that because of no bank guarantees in the present deal, it’s a saving for Dassault Aviation & NOT for Indian govt. The dissent note by Indian Negotiating Team members had worked out its financial impact to be at €574 million. So the Indian taxpayer lost €574 million!

— Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) February 13, 2019

Former Minister Finance and External Affairs Yashwant Sinha also tweeted on the CAG report. "Nobody knows the price of Rafale fighter planes yet we are told to believe that the NDA price is cheaper than the UPA's," he said.

Nobody knows the price of Rafale fighter planes yet we are told to believe that the NDA price is cheaper than the UPA's. Govt claimed it was 9% cheaper. CAG says it is 2.86% cheaper. Just shows how subjective the answer can be depending on who is giving it.

— Yashwant Sinha (@YashwantSinha) February 13, 2019

Slamming the Congress after CAG report of Rafale, Union minister Arun Jaitley said that the grand old party stands for "destruction". The CAG has vindicated the stand of the NDA. It has the blasted the big lies of Congress and Rahul Gandhi. The CAG has stated that NDA deal could have been even cheaper since the equipment that we bought is far more sophisticated," he added.

Reacting to CAG report on Rafale deal, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram tweeted, "No bank guarantee, no sovereign guarantee and no Escrow account! No anti-corruption clause!"  The report said that the MoD had sought opening of an Escrow account to manage the payments as a measure of safeguard. However, the French side did not agree.

Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan called Rahul Gandhi "mahajhootha" (biggest liar) after the CAG report on Rafale deal. "Rahul Gandhi has constantly lied. If someone has to be given a tag of 'mahajhootha' or an award for it then he'll be the first contender. He has no shame. The way he had lied in Rafale matter, all his facts and documents are turning out to be false. He has no credibility left," he said.

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati dismissed the CAG report, saying that it's neither complete nor fully correct in the eyes of public. "Why constitutional bodies are under stress of not being able to work with full honesty in the BJP government. Country is worried," she added.

The much awaited CAG report on Rafale tabled in Rajya Sabha is neither complete nor fully correct in the eyes of public. Why constitutional bodies are under stress not been able to work with full honesty in the BJP government. Country is worried.

— Mayawati (@Mayawati) February 13, 2019

The CAG report further says that four of the Indian specific enhancements were not needed at all because in the technical evaluation of 2010, the IAF had pointed out these were not needed. However, they got included in the scope, despite IAF making several attempts to reduce these items. IAF did not define the Air Staff Qualitative Requirements (ASQRs) properly. As a result none of the vendors could fully meet ASQRs.

Both the bills were passed in Lok Sabha and sent to Rajya Sabha. With the general elections around the corner, the bills will have to clear Lok Sabha again once a new Lower House is elected.

The CAG report on Rafale deal says that three items, including basic aircraft, were procured at the same price, while four items were purchased at lower than the aligned price.

Rajya Sabha adjourned sine die. The Triple Talaq and Citizenship Bills have also lapsed with the end of the session. Both the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2018 were introduced in Lok Sabha, passed and sent to Rajya Sabha. With the general elections around the corner, the bills will have to clear Lok Sabha again once a new Lower House is elected.

With opposition protests stalling House proceedings, the Rajya Sabha Wednesday passed without debate the motion thanking the President for his address at the start of the Budget session. Issues ranging from the Rafale fighter jet deal to the Citizenship Bill have stalled proceedings since the House met for the Budget session on January 31. On the last day of the session, there was a consensus that the motion will be adopted without debate. The motion was adopted by voice vote after several amendments moved by opposition members were withdrawn. 

The Rajya Sabha passed the Interim Budget and Finance Bill 2019-20 without a debate on Wednesday — the last day of the Budget session of Parliament. The Interim Budget, Appropriation Bills and Finance Bill were passed by a voice vote in the Upper House after a broad consensus was arrived among political parties to pass them without debate. Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla moved that the Appropriation and Finance Bills be passed. Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu put the bills to vote, which were approved by voice vote and returned to the Lok Sabha. Lok Sabha had on February 11 passed the Appropriation Bills and had on Tuesday passed the Finance Bill. 

RSS Pracharak-turned-BJP national-secretary Sunil Deodhar also hit out at Rahul Gandhi after the CAG report revealed that the deal was cheaper that UPA's in 2007. 

All the lies of Rahul Baba busted once again on Rafale Deal.

CAG Report clearly tells that :

~ NDA Deal is cheaper than UPA Deal

~ Delivery schedule is also faster

~ NDA Saved 17.08% on specificities enhancements.

— Sunil Deodhar (@Sunil_Deodhar) February 13, 2019

According to the CAG report, the 2016 Rafale deal negotiated by the Narendra Modi government was 2.86% cheaper than the one chalked out in 2007.

Cong Says CAG Report is 'Strange' | Congress leader Manish Tewari slammed the CAG report as "strange". He said that it's the first report which has "not gone into pricing and has not revealed the price". "This report is not worth the paper it is printed on," he said. "If CAG has not revealed the price, then what have they audited? 2.86% of what? What was the UPA price? What was the NDA price?" he asked.

Reacting on the CAG report, former Indian Army chief General VK Singh ​says that Rafale is an inter-governmental agreement and the "heads of both the countries finalised the agreement without any middlemen".

Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha passes Interim Budget 2019-20, Appropriation and Finance Bills without debate. The Upper House also passed the Motion of Thanks on the President's Address without discussion.

A Defence Ministry team in March 2015 recommended the scrapping of the 126 Rafale deal, saying that Dassault Aviation was not the lowest bidder and EADS (European Aeronautic Defence & Space Company) was not fully compliant with the tender requirements. Finding issues in the UPA era 126 aircraft deal, CAG says Defence Ministry team had said in 2015 that the proposal of Dassault Aviation Rafale should have been rejected in technical evaluation stage itself as it was non-compliant with RFP requirements, reports ANI after breaking down the details of the CAG report.

'India-specific Enhancements Unnecessary' | India-specific enhancement was 17% cheaper, says the CAG report, adding that the IAF had however said that "India-specific enhancements were unnecessary". 

'Mahajhootbandhan' Exposed: Jaitley | Slamming the united Opposition over their attacks on Rafale, Union minister Arun Jaitley further said that the lies of the ‘Mahajhootbandhan’ stood exposed after the CAG report.