Congress President Rahul Gandhi is "misguiding" people on the Rafale fighter aircraft deal with France, said Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday, as she advised him to approach her predecessor AK Antony of the Congress to understand the process of defence procurement.
Talking to reporters in Bhopal, the defence minister said, "If he contacts and holds discussions with former Defence Minister (and Congress leader) A K Antony on process of procurement in the Rafale deal, he will understand it.”
"But his intention was not to understand it. His intention is to misguide people over Rafale deal, so wherever he goes he raises it to misguide people," Sitharaman added.
"The public won't be misguided by him. We have taken the decision (to buy 36 Rafale jets from France) without kickback," the minister said.
The BJP leader was replying to a query about Gandhi making the controversial deal a big issue in the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections. She said this level of transparency in the Ministry of Defence was not there during earlier procurements (under the Congress rule).
Sitharaman however, refused to comment on another query on the Rafale deal as the issue is pending before the Supreme Court.
The NDA government has been giving clear and correct information about the mega defence deal and it will continue doing so, she said.
Sitharaman said the Congress has no poll issue to talk about in Madhya Pradesh so it is raising the Rafale matter in the state, which goes to the polls on November 28.
"It is not a national issue also," the minister responded to another query on the Rafale deal.
Gandhi has repeatedly alleged a mega scam in the Rafale fighter jet deal and accused the Modi government of favouring a private company in offset contract related to the Rs 58,000-crore defence agreement with Paris.
The government has vehemently denied Gandhi's charges.
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