Rafale deal price row: Congress claims no secret deal, alleges breach of privilege
New Delhi, July 23 (IBNS): The Congress is likely to move in the Lok Sabha a privilege motion against Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for “misleading the House” on the Rafale deal, as the party claims that there was no secret deal with France.
The party is, however, yet to decide whether a similar motion is to be brought against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma told reporters at a press conference on Monday that the Government owes Parliament an explanation on why Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman "misled" the nation on the price issue.
"The French government had no objection in revealing the price of the Rafale aircraft. This was conveyed by the French president to Rahul Gandhi," he said.
Media reports quoted Sharma as saying that the party’s Lok Sabha leadership will take a decision on moving privilege motions against the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister.
The fight between the Congress and the BJP-led Government in the Lok Sabha has intensified over the price of Rafale aircraft, purchased from France.
While the Congres has been insisting that the Government disclose the price, the latter insists that it can’t because of a secrecy clause in the deal with France.
Sharma said, "French government’s statement clarifies that price was not a part of the secrecy clause. French government mandates that the price should be revealed."
" The price disclosed by Defence Minister before gives an approximate figure of Rs. 670Cr, which doesn’t add up. Prime Minister Modi is now backtracking on the issue, now claiming secrecy clause only proves there is a scam,” Sharma said.
“PM Modi must confirm or deny in the Parliament that after returning from France the deal was changed without informing CCS.”
Earlier, senior Congress leader and former Defence Minister A K Antony said, the Government's claim that a secrecy clause in the pact was forcing it to not reveal price details of the deal was "totally wrong".
He also said the Government cannot hide the price details of the Rafale jets as the deal has to be scrutinised by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) as well as Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC)
“I have revealed in Parliament prices of many defence contracts because under the Constitution Government cannot deny revealing the prices as they are scrutinised at various levels,” Antony said.
“When there is no secret deal that prevents revealing the prices, how can they keep it a secret?”
Antony said the rise in the price of the aircraft was not justified.
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