Let every Indian pose questions to Modi, ministers on Rafale

A day after a heated debate on the Rafale deal in Parliament, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday accused Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of not answering his two questions and urged all Indians to pose these to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ministers.

Gandhi's remarks came as he shared an "edited" video on his Twitter account of the Parliament debate on the deal to purchase fighter jets from France.

"RM spoke for 2 hours in Parliament, but she couldn't answer the 2 simple questions I asked her. Watch and share this video. Let every Indian ask the PM and his Ministers these questions," he said.

Gandhi had said on Friday that Sitharaman evaded his questions on the controversial Rafale deal.

Sitharaman had dismissed all allegations of corruption in the Rafale deal and accused Gandhi of misleading the nation.

The Congress also held a press conference and accused Sitharaman and Modi of "lying" in the Rafale deal.

Party spokesperson Pawan Khera alleged that Sitharaman was "lying to protect lies" of Modi.

"She lied that there was no agreement between HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limted) and Rafale. The truth is that both the companies signed a work share agreement on March 13, 2014. She lied that she has no knowledge on the offset of Dassault in India".

He said that French Defence Minister Florence Parly had visited Nagpur in 2017 to lay the foundation stone for Dassault Aviation and Reliance's joint venture project.

--IANS

sd-aks/ps/prs