PM Modi’s New Rafale Deal Gets Aircraft Here Late: Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi attacked PM Modi for the Rafale deal, saying that the prime minister is completely demoralised.

Congres President Rahul Gandhi

(Photo: PTI)

Video Editor: Ashutosh Bhardwaj

The CAG report on the controversial Rafale fighter jet deal was tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, 13 February, on the last day of the ongoing Budget Session.

The report said that the Rafale deal signed by the Modi government was 2.86 percent cheaper than the one negotiated by the UPA government.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi, while addressing the media, said that the Rafale aircraft in India are being delivered later than they were supposed to as per the original deal.

“The argument of Prime Minister, Defence Minister and Finance Minister on why a new deal was required was number one, price, and number two, that the Air Force needed planes quickly. The fact of the matter is, the new deal signed by Narendra Modi gets India the aircrafts later than the original deal,” he said.

Rahul Gandhi highlighted the fact that there was no mention of the dissent note placed by the negotiators.

“This is a document which was a dissent note placed by the negotiators – financial and military experts. There is no mention that the negotiators actually placed a dissent note. That the negotiators actually said there is 55% cost escalation. That the negotiators actually said that the delivery would happen later in the second year. The two-and-a-half percent increase that they talk about still catches the lie of the PM, Defence Minister and the Finance Minister.”

Rahul Gandhi, Congress President 

He added that PM Narendra Modi is completely demoralised saying that, “PM Modi is aware that any day the process on Rafale will start. On three counts, the Rafale case will reach a conclusion: Process, Corruption and National Security Act.”