Days after Congress president Rahul Gandhi had asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to clarify whether or not Defence Ministry officials had objected to his government changing the terms of the contract in the Rafale deal, his party released what it claimed to be “file notings objecting to the new deal”.
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Will the Prime Minister and Defence Minister now disclose the full facts to Parliament, the Congress leaders asked. Only a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) can investigate the Rafale scam, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge and Randeep Surjewala told presspersons before the government’s reply in Parliament.
They alleged Prime Minister Modi brushed aside objections raised by the Defence and the Law Ministries that cost the exchequer and compromised national security.
The Opposition party fielded the senior leaders to reiterate its demand for a JPC investigation. “I am quoting their objections that said “No Advance and Performance Bank Guarantee has been obtained from Dassault Aviation and the advance payments made prior to delivery are not secured,” read out Mr. Surjewala from one of the “file notings”.
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The Congress leader said that another file noting related to performance maintenance of the deal.
“I quote again, ‘the Maintenance Terms and Conditions including Performance Based Guarantee (PBG) of 36 Rafale IGA was not better than that of 126 MMRCA bid’,” Mr. Surjewala said.
However, inside the Lok Sabha, the Defence Minister said that performance maintenance of the NDA-negotiated deal was better than what the UPA regime had agreed to.
While Mr. Kharge raised these points in the Lok Sabha during the debate, former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram charged the BJP government with compromising national security.
“We charge the BJP government with compromising national security by buying only 36 aircraft when the Air Force’s requirement was 126 aircraft. Why did the government not enter into a contract to buy 126 aircraft,” said Mr. Chidambaram.