Sitharaman, Rahul Gandhi Trade Barbs, Accuse Each Other of ‘Lying’

Rahul Gandhi challenged Nirmala Sitharaman to place documents on HAL before Parliament on Monday, 7 January.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi, on Sunday, 6 January, accused Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of "lying" that procurement orders worth Rs 1 lakh crore were provided to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), claiming the aerospace major has not received any money.

Moments later, Sitharaman hit back saying it was a matter of “shame” that the Congress president was misleading the country on the issue.

When you tell one lie, you need to keep spinning out more lies, to cover up the first one.

In her eagerness to defend the PM's Rafale lie, the RM lied to Parliament.

Tomorrow, RM must place before Parliament documents showing 1 Lakh crore of Govt orders to HAL.

Or resign. pic.twitter.com/dYafyklH9o

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) January 6, 2019

While Gandhi challenged Sitharaman to place documents before the Parliament showing Rs 1 lakh crore of government orders to HAL or resign, Sitharaman tweeted details of contracts awarded to the state-run aerospace major since 2014 when the BJP came to power.

It's a shame that the president of @INCIndia is spreading lies nd
misleading the country.HAL has signed contracts worth 26570.8Cr (Between 2014 & 2018) nd contracts worth 73000Cr are in the pipeline.Will @RahulGandhi apologise to the country from the floor of the house nd resign? pic.twitter.com/PRWEMFUjml

— NSitharamanOffice (@nsitharamanoffc) January 6, 2019

Dear Shri @RahulGandhi , looks like you really need to start from ABCs.

Someone like you who is hellbent on misleading the public will quote an article even before reading it. https://t.co/D6osVZfDU9

— NSitharamanOffice (@nsitharamanoffc) January 6, 2019

Please read the complete report in ⁦@timesofindia⁩ to which you ( ⁦@RahulGandhi⁩ )are referring: “However, as the LS record shows, Sitharaman did not claim the orders were signed, saying they were in the works.” | India News - Times of India https://t.co/2v6MAZ2t3o

— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) January 6, 2019

Gandhi's attack on Sunday, came after a media report claimed that HAL, grappling with low finances, was forced to borrow Rs 1,000 crore to pay salaries to its employees for the first time in years.

On Saturday, Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "weakening" the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to help his "suit-boot" friend, PTI reported.

On the contrary, BJP-led NDA government accused the Congress of not supporting HAL during its rule and asserted that the government is now strengthening the defence public sector undertaking, the PTI report added.

‘The Lying Defence Minister’s Lies Get Exposed’: Surjewala

Earlier, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted, "The Lying Defence Minister's Lies Get Exposed! Defence Minister claimed that procurement orders worth Rs 1 Lakh Crore provided to HAL! HAL says Not a SINGLE PAISA has come, as Not a SINGLE ORDER has been signed! For the first time, HAL forced to take a loan of Rs 1,000 Cr to pay salaries," he added.

The Lying Defence Minister’s Lies Gets Exposed!

Def Min claimed that procurement orders worth ₹1 Lakh Cr provided to HAL!

HAL says Not a SINGLE PAISA has come, as Not a SINGLE ORDER has been signed!

For the first time,HAL forced to take a loan of ₹1000 Cr to pay salaries! pic.twitter.com/IzoRvHW1VM

— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) January 6, 2019

Surjewala cited a media report which claimed that not a single rupee of the said Rs 1 lakh crore has come to HAL, since not a single order, as claimed, has been signed till now.

The media report cited senior HAL management officials in order to back its claim.