No point engaging the opposition on the Rafale deal: Nirmala Sitharaman

Nirmala Sitharaman, the defence minister, said there is no possibility of engaging the opposition on the Rafale deal after the opposition’s mud-slinging on a sensitive issue like this and questioning the defence preparedness of the country.

“Is there any point of calling them and explaining? They are misleading the country with something which was not even agreed to during the UPA government. You are throwing an allegation saying there is a fraud. You did not care for operational preparedness of the air force,” Sitharaman was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

Asked whether the government would engage the opposition would follow the UPA way in involving the opposition like Dr Manmohan Singh did in 2005 at the time of finalising the nuclear deal with the United States, Sitharaman said there’s no use as she has answered their questions in the parliament itself. “It (Rafale deal) is an inter-governmental agreement. You (Opposition) have asked us questions and I have given answers to them in Parliament. Then what am I calling them for? What am I going to tell them when I call them?” the defence minister was quoted saying.

Sitharaman also said that the Rafale deal couldn’t be compared with the Bofors case as there’s no middleman in the deal unlike the Bofors one. The defence minister also threw light on the how this Rafale deal would be “superior” to what was negotiated by the UPA in terms of avionics, weapon system and other add-ons.

Rejecting the opposition’s claims that the deal was to benefit Reliance Defence Ltd, she said the government had role in selecting an off-set partner of the Rafale maker, Dassault Aviation.

“I have not got to know who is Dassault’s offset partner. It is a commercial decision. There are laid down procedure to check the process of fulfilment of offset obligations. Neither I can accept, nor I can suggest, nor I can reject anybody from going with anybody,” she was quoted by the news agency.

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