Priyanka Chaturvedi on Rafale jets: Why buying only 36 when 126 required?

The Congress in no mood to leave the Bharatiya Janata Party government on the Rafale deal and issues related with its procurement. Question the Union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi asked why the deal with France’s Dassault Aviation to buy just 36 aircraft was done when 126 fighter jets were required.

Targeting the Union government on the fighter jets deal, Chaturvedi doubted on the motto behind letting the procurement deal on an urgency mode. She was of the opinion if the motto was fair and clean, then why did the government not ask the French counterpart to supply the jets at one go.  She asked, “why the government is “afraid of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the deal, if it’s fair?”

Speaking at Mathura on Saturday, Chaturvedi said, “The first lot of the aircraft will be supplied in 2019 and the rest in 2022. If there is any urgency, the whole lot should have been supplied by 2019.” She further added, as quoted by NDTV, “A total of 126 aircraft were required, but the NDA government signed a pact for only 36 aircraft. This is strange.”

Alleging that the government had sacrificed the nation’s interest to favour a millionaire friend, the Congress leader said, “How the cost per plane soared from Rs. 526 crore to Rs. 1,670 crore? The Prime Minister should explain why the government ignored a public sector undertaking with a 70-year-long clean record and gave the contract to a 12-day-old company which lacks experience.”

Chaturvedi stated that during the UPA tenure the deal could not materialise as the then government ensured transparency in all matters related to it. However, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had stated earlier that the fully weaponised fighter jets are 20 per cent cheaper than the ones offered under the previous UPA regime.

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