Nirmala Sitharaman- File pic
Rejecting all charges levelled against the Narendra Modi government over the Rafale deal, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said that the NDA government was getting the Rafale fighter jets at a rate nine per cent cheaper than what the UPA dispensation had agreed upon.
The defence minister pointed out that if the basic price agreed upon by the NDA govt and the UPA govt was compared, with all the escalation and other things, the deal inked by the Modi government was 9% cheaper.
Sitharaman also said that Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu could have avoided hugging Pakistan's army chief Bajwa when he attended the swearing-in of Imran Khan.
She also said that it would be a "good fight" in the 2019 Lok Sabha election and exuded confidence that the BJP would come back to power.
"We have responded saying your basic price and the basic price that I am getting at, when compared with all the escalation and other things, is 9 per cent cheaper," she told media persons.
Earlier in the day, former defence minister and senior Congress leader A K Antony questioned the Modi government, saying if the fighter aircraft purchased by them was cheaper, whey didn't the government buy more than 126.
Antony said Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad recently claimed that in the new agreement, the aircraft is nine per cent cheaper than the UPA deal, the finance minister said it is 20 per cent cheaper while an officer of IAF also said it is 40 per cent cheaper, then "Why did they not buy more than 126 if it was cheaper?" he told reporters.
The previous UPA government started negotiating in 2012 with French firm Dassault Aviation to buy 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA).
The plan was for Dassault Aviation to supply 18 Rafale jets in fly-away condition while 108 aircraft were to be manufactured in India by the company along with HAL.
However, the deal could not be sealed.
Referring to Sidhu’s hug, Sitharaman said "Sidhu has a lot of admirers...somebody of that stature going there and then hugging the chief of the army, an army about which in India we have very clear feelings, it certainly has an impact on soldiers..., it demoralises the people. I wish Sidhu would have avoided it (hug),"
Cricketer-turned politician Sidhu had courted controversy by hugging Pakistan Army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa during his visit to Pakistan for the swearing-in of Imran Khan as Prime Minister.
He had claimed that he did so as Bajwa told him that the Pakistan government was working for opening of the Kartarpur corridor for Sikh pilgrims from Indian state of Punjab.
