No scam in Rafale deal, says Nirmala Sitharaman

The Hindu, Mohit M Rao, Feb 19, 2018

Where is the scam in Rafale fighter jet procurement when no such deal was signed in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime?, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in Bengaluru on Sunday.

“I assure you there is no controversy. I [as the Defence Minister who was appointed after the signing of the deal]) have not walked into any controversy, because it is not there... They [the Opposition] just want to create a scam to equate this scam-free government with theirs,” she said in a conversation with N. Ravi, Publisher, The Hindu, on “In defence of the realm: How prepared is India?” at The Huddle.

Seeking to tear into the Opposition’s claims of illegalities in the purchase of 36 fighters from French company Dassault Aviation, she said that during the three years of negotiations under the UPA government between 2011 and early 2014, the price quoted for the jets was revised upwards, to up to 300% of the original price. 

Files taken back
“Bids were opened and Rafale emerged as the front-runner. But the UPA Defence Minister then took the files back, when he had no business to do so. There was no deal on Rafale,” she said.

With this, the controversies “raked up” about HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) being sidelined for a private player or technology transfer not being incorporated were “nonsense,” she said.

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