Congress failed to ink the deal between HAL and Dassault: Nirmala Sitharaman

It seems defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman is hell-bent on proving the fact that there was nothing wrong in inking the Rafale deal. Sitharaman said that Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Dassault couldn’t reach a conclusion on the production terms during the UPA rule and also that Congress didn’t provide backing to HAL back in 2013.

“The deal didn’t happen during UPA. What also didn’t happen during the UPA was that between HAL and Dassault, they couldn’t agree on production terms. So HAL and Rafale couldn’t go together. Doesn’t that very clearly say who didn’t go with the HAL, under which government did that happen?” Sitharaman was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

Her clarifications came soon after former defence minister AK Antony denied that he intervened during the deal the was being negotiated. Antony trashed all charged levelled against him by the current defence minister. Sitharaman said that it was an unprecedented intervention by Antony in 2013 put the “final nail in the coffin” when the costing was being negotiated.

On the contrary, Antony alleged that Sitharaman was trying to show HAL in poor light nationally and internationally. While taking pot shots,  Antony asked whether the price of Rafale fighter jets were cheaper than that negotiated by the UPA and also what’s the reason for the government to purchase only 36 jets when the original plan was to buy 126 jets from French firm.

It was initially planned to purchase 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) when the negotiations began with the French firm six years ago.

Also read: Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi questions Parrikar’s silence on Rafale Deal