Cong, BJP continue to spew fire over Rafale issue

The political slugfest over the Rafale fighter jet deal continued on Monday with Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman rejecting "doubts" raised by the Congress on contracts to HAL as "incorrect and misleading" and Rahul Gandhi accusing the government of "weakening" the state-run aero major and destroying India's strategic capability.

Sitharaman said in the Lok Sabha that the defence PSU has been awarded works worth over Rs 26,000 crore and projects amounting to Rs 73,000 crore are in the pipeline.

Her clarification came amid a political furore over her statement in the House regarding orders placed with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), with Congress president Rahul Gandhi alleging that she had "lied" that government orders worth Rs one lakh crore were provided to the company.

Amid protests by opposition members, Sitharaman told the Lok Sabha Monday, "I would like to set all doubts to rest... the doubts raised in this regard are incorrect and misleading."
"So you have to undermine HAL which is what the government is doing. They are saying HAL can't build anything, but Anil Ambani can. Anil Ambani has never built an aircraft in his life, HAL has built multiple different types of aircraft."
Citing a report, he said, "A media house has come up with documents which reveal that the same middlemen who were pushing for the case for AgustaWestland, one of them being under arrest, were also pushing the case for Eurofighter, which was in competition with Rafale."