Rafale pricing will be analysed by parliamentary sub committee: Congress MP

The pricing of the 36 Rafale fighter jets being purchased from France will be analysed by the parliamentary sub committee on defence, the sub committee's Convenor Shantaram Naik said on Saturday.

"We will analyse the price and we will not go by the statements of Mr. (Manohar) Parrikar, which he is making time and again," Naik, who is also Congress Rajya Sabha MP, said on the sidelines of a Congress workers' meet in Panaji.

On Friday, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian signed a $8.8 billion deal to facilitate the purchase of 36 Rafale fighters in ready-to-fly condition.

Naik also said that Parrikar was nowhere in the picture when the deal was first signed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and that the Defence Minister's involvement in the Rafale purchase process occurred much later.

"This man (Parrikar) was not taken into confidence for months together. Only now he is being taken into confidence," Naik said.

--IANS

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