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Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, July 23
The Congress on Monday accused the ruling BJP of misleading the country on the Rafale fighter jet deal and termed the purchase of 36 planes for Rs 59,000 crore by the Modi government as a ‘scam’, asking the ruling party not to hide behind the cloak of secrecy.
Senior Congress leader AK Antony, who was Defence Minister (October 2006 to May 2014) and Anand Sharma, a former foreign affairs minister, on Monday addressing a press conference raised questions on price of the fighter jet and said Rs 41,000 crore loss to the public money had been caused.
Antony said Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was “misleading the country”. She had said in the Lok Sabha that there was a secret clause signed with France in 2008 not to reveal the Rafale price, Antony said, adding, “I don’t know how she made the statement, it’s totally wrong. There was no Rafale deal in 2008. Rafale was selected among six competitors in December 2012.”
Antony was referring to the tender floated in 2007 which was finally scrapped in 2015.
Sharma said the party is mulling filing a privilege motion, however, a final decision is yet to be taken. Looks like a case of breach of privilege, however, the party’s Lok Sabha MPs would take a decision on it, Sharma said.
Sharma said the agreement between India and France on “protection of classified information and material in the field of defence” did not mention that commercial cost could not be revealed. It only extends to tactical and technical details of weaponry relating to the capability of the platform, and its performance and tactics in combat and does not include commercial details and costs, he said.
The French company Dassault, which makes Rafale, had already disclosed the price in its company’s filing in its home country, he added.
He said revealing of price is mandatory under the Constitution. It had to be revealed to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and also to the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament. The Defence Minister is deliberately mis-leading Parliament and the Prime Minister was backing her, Sharma claimed.
“If the French company and the French President have no objection in telling the price, what is the problem in Modi or Nirmala telling the price,” said party’s communication department incharge Randeep Surjewala.
In April 2015, the Modi government had decided to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets off-the-shelf from French major Dassault.
Arriving at the Rs 41,000 crore loss, Antony and Sharma said in a statement that the Rafale bid opened on December 12, 2012, during the UPA government was for Rs 526.10 crore that is Rs 18,940 crore for 36 aircraft. The Modi government purchased 36 Rafale aircraft for euro 7.5 billion (Rs 1,670.70 crore per aircraft), the BJP needed to explain the extra amount of Rs 41,205 crore paid from the public money, they said.
They said Egypt and Qatar purchased Rafale in 2015 for Rs 1,319.80 crore per aircraft.
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