Cong raises question over buying of Rafale aircraft by Modi

Amid the storm over the AgustaWestland chopper deal, Congress today raised questions over buying of Rafale fighter aircraft by the Narendra Modi dispensation.
"Which Defence Procurement Procedure permits a Prime Minister to go and buy fighter aircraft from a private company without tendering process on Off-the-Shelf Basis leading to expenditure of Billion Dollars?", party's chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala asked while talking to reporters.
Raising a number of questions over the deal, he wondered whether is it sovereign right of the Prime Minister over exchequer's money?
"If there is no sovereign right that a Prime Minister has, can a Prime Minister tomorrow decide that he will spend 'X' amount of Billion Dollars of exchequer's money on Off-the-Shelf purchase of the Fighter Aircraft, the answer is clearly 'No'.", he said.

So, the Defence Procurement Procedure post independence, if ever has been negated, "thrown in the dust-bin and violated with impunity," it is in case of purchase of Off-the-Shelf Rafele Aircraft by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, he claimed.
Besides, he recalled that a global tender was held by Government and two companies had qualified - Dassault Aviation of France which manufactures Rafele and the other Company which makes Euro Fighter.
In such a scenario, "if you had to make Off-the-Shelf purchase, should an equivalent offer had not been made to both the companies, so that we could have got the best price possible," he said.