Rafale row in Lok Sabha : Give me 15 minutes with PM, country will know the truth, says Rahul Gandhi
New Delhi, Jan 7 (IBNS) : After Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Ravi Shankar Prasad hit out at Rahul Gandhi while defending the Rafale fighter jet deal, the Congress President on Monday accused the Defence Minister of lying even in her clarification in Parliament and once again threw a challenge at the Prime Minister for a debate on the issue.
"Today Nirmala Sitharaman lied in parliament.I'm again requesting the Defence minister and PM Modi to answer "did Air Force and Defence ministry senior officers object to your interference in Rafale deal?" Please answer in a yes or no," he said.
Evoking the "Chowkidaar Chor hai" jibe once again, Rahul Gandhi said that PM Modi is afraid of a direct confrontation in the Lok Sabha over the Rafale probe. "Dassault hasn't delivered even a single helicopter till now but Rs 200,000 crore has been given to Dassault already. Give me 15 minutes with PM Narendra Modi for a debate on Rafale; the country will know the truth." Gandhi further asked why the government was not giving dues to Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
Gandhi alleged that the "best" engineers and scientists from cash-strapped HAL will be forced to move to the Anil Ambani group that has the Rafale fighter jet contract. "This will happen as Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) does not have enough money to pay salaries to its employees and Ambani needs its talent to deliver on his contract."
"That HAL doesn’t have enough cash to pay salaries, isn’t surprising...Anil Ambani has Rafale. He now needs HAL’s brilliant talent pool to deliver on his contracts."
He said that HAL employees are clearly saying they are being destroyed and this is being done on purpose so that they cannot perform as per their capability and Anil Ambani can be promoted.
While Defence Miniter Nirmala Sitharaman said in Lok Sabha that doubts raised on her statement on HAL contracts was "incorrect and misleading", Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad hit out at the Congress president accusing him of "sabotaging India's security". Prasad, while addressing media outside Parliament, posed three questions to Gandhi and asked him if he was lobbying for Eurofighter jets.
Congress had on Sunday alleged that the Minister had "lied" in Parliament that government orders worth Rs one lakh crore were provided to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. Sitharaman said in Lok Sabha, "I would like to set all doubts to rest... the doubts raised in this regard are incorrect and misleading."
The Rafale fighter jet debate continued to rock Parliament on Monday as Sitharaman faced protests by Opposition MPs during her speech in the Lower House.
The two Houses were earlier adjourned amid sparring between the treasury and the Opposition benches on the issue.
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