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‘She ran away’: Rahul Gandhi targets Nirmala Sitharaman after Rafale debate in Lok Sabha
In her response to the acrimonious debate, Nirmala Sitharaman extensively criticised the previous UPA government’s efforts to buy the Medium Muti-Role Combat Aircraft but not getting around to sealing the deal.
The rancorous debate over the Rafale deal in the Lok Sabha ended on Friday after a detailed response by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman that saw her attempting to punch holes in the Congress’s campaign alleging corruption in the deal to buy 36 fighter jets. She won accolades for the speech on social media from many, including party veteran and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
But Congress Rahul Gandhi, who leads the opposition charge against the deal and targets Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was clearly not impressed. Gandhi said the minister did give a long reply but he still hadn’t received an answer to the basic question that he asked.
The defence minister did not answer any of the questions I asked on the Rafale deal, Gandhi told reporters outside Parliament, referring to the two questions that he had posed towards the end of the debate.
Watch: ‘You spoke but did on answer,’ Rahul Gandhi targets Sitharaman on Rafale
One of them was about the decision to scrap the UPA-era deal being finalised to buy 136 fighter jets. Gandhi alleges that PM Modi cancelled the entire process to sign a new one for the Rafale, bypassing the officials.
“I asked that after a long negotiation process, those people who participated in that negotiations – Air Force chief, defence minister, secretaries, Air Force officials – when the prime minister did a ‘bypass surgery’... did the Air Force people object, yes or no,” Gandhi said.
Gandhi said the minister did speak for a long time but left the question unanswered.
“And you saw that instead of answering this, the defence minister started doing drama that ‘I have been insulted, I was called a liar’,” he said, a reference to the minister’s outburst towards the
It was a straight question and without answering that she “ran away”, the Congress chief said.
“The PM cannot come (to Parliament), and the chief minister of Goa is saying I have a file and I will get back at the PM. She gave a two-and-a-half hour speech and did not answer any questions,” Gandhi said.
In her response to the acrimonious debate, Nirmala Sitharaman extensively criticised the previous UPA government’s efforts to buy the Medium Muti-Role Combat Aircraft but not getting around to sealing the deal. More than once, Sitharaman alleged that the Congress-led government kept the deal on hold “over money”.
She also rebutted Rahul Gandhi’s attempt to blame the government for not giving Hindustan Aeronautics the contract to manufacture the fighter jet, asking why the previous UPA government imported the VVIP choppers from AgustaWestland rather than get them manufactured by HAL.
The minister also made a reference to the row over the Bofors gun back in the eighties.
“Bofors was a scam, but Rafale was a decision taken in national interest. Rafale will bring back Modi to build a new India and remove corruption,” she said in a reply lasting over two-and-half hours in the Lok Sabha to a debate on the deal with French manufacturer Dassault.
The Minister said there was a difference between defence dealings and dealing in defence.
“We deal in defence with national security as a priority,” she said.
She said the first Rafale fighter jet will be delivered in September this year and the remaining 35 aircraft by 2022.
