Rahul Gandhi, Nirmala Sitharaman lock horns on HAL contracts

New Delhi: The sniping over Rafale deal showed no signs of ending with the Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday challenging Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a debate on the Rafale deal and accusing Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of “lying” over the contracts given to public sector undertaking HAL even as she accused him of raising “incorrect and misleading” doubts regarding her statement in Parliament. Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad also slammed Gandhi describing his allegations on the deal to purchase fighter jets from France as “completely false” and said these were based on complete “commercial interests” and to “promote a competitor.”

Making a suo motu statement in the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman said she had received confirmation from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) that during 2014 to 2018, contracts amounting to Rs 26,570.80 crore had been signed with the public sector company and orders worth approximately Rs 73,000 crore were in the pipeline. “Doubts are being raised on my statement made on the floor of the house on January 4 regarding procurement orders in the pipeline for HAL... I would like to set all doubts to rest by adding that I have received confirmation from HAL that during 2014-2018, contracts amounting to Rs 26,570.80 crore have already been signed with HAL and orders approximately of Rs 73,000 crore are in the pipeline,” she said without naming Gandhi.

“I had specifically mentioned that there are 83 LCA Tejas fighters ordered worth Rs 50,000 crore, 15 combat helicopters worth Rs 3,000 crore, 200 more helicopters worth Rs 20,000 crore, 19 Dornier transport aircraft worth Rs 3,400 crore, helicopters worth Rs 15,000 crore, and aero-engines worth Rs 8,400 crore. All of them put together amount to Rs 1 lakh crore,” she added. Placing documents related to those orders on the floor, Sitharaman said they “clearly confirm the correctness of my statement made on the floor of this house and (prove that) the doubts raised in this regard are incorrect and misleading”.

Gandhi had alleged on Sunday that Sitharaman had “lied” to Parliament asked her to produce documents that the government had given contracts of Rs one lakh crore to HAL. Gandhi kept up his attack on Monday following her statement in the Lok Sabha and described her as a “spokesperson of Narendra Modi”. Gandhi also tweeted and said it is surprising that HAL doesn’t have enough cash to pay salaries. Party leader Kapil Sibal also attacked the Modi government. (IANS)

Also read: National News