Sitharaman emphasised India's concern on the grave challenges to international peace and stability due to the threat of terrorism.

India and Singapore will extend their already comprehensive bilateral defence collaboration, sources said.  

She added that terrorism was a primary security threat with "interplay between states and non-state actors that are often used as proxies" to foment violence worsening the menace.

Repeatedly calling Gandhi a "clown prince", the BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra at a press conference also alleged the Congress leader comes from "a family of middlemen" and his his father and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was "officially a middleman" in a defence deal.

Sitharaman will hold wide-ranging talks with her French counterpart Florence Parly on ways to deepen strategic cooperation between the two countries .

When asked if PM Modi was authorised to take a call on reducing the number of aircraft to be purchased without consulting the Indian Air Force, Sitharaman said that the prime minister doesn't require such permission.

Blaming the then United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for not finalising the deal with Dassault during its tenure, the Defence Minister said the Congress campaign on Rafale was irresponsible and baseless.

She said that Hollande's claims came at a time when he himself was facing allegations that his partner had received “some funds for some purpose”.

Accusing the previous UPA government of being in touch with "brokers", Sitharaman alleged that the Congress government did not buy important equipment required for the defence force.

India wants to procure the long-range missile systems to tighten its air defence mechanism, particularly along the nearly 4,000-km-long China-India border.

"I, others will go around the country to put facts before the public. It is a matter of perception battle," she told reporters.  

The Congress spokesperson cited the remarks of former HAL chief T Suvarna Raju to attack Sitharaman over the issue of HAL's capability to build the Rafale aircraft.

“The RM (Rafale Minister) tasked with defending corruption has been caught lying again. The former HAL Chief, T S Raju, has nailed her lie, that HAL didn’t have the capability to build the RAFALE. Her position is untenable & she must resign,” tweeted Gandhi.

Sitharaman’s comments came days after candidates backed by Left groups won all four key posts in the JNU Students Union elections.

Sitharaman said that when a person of Sidhu’s stature hugs chief of Pakistani army it demoralises people of the country.

The controversial message sent by one of the arrested duo reads as, "Main shoot karunga Sitharaman ko, kal uska akhiri din hoga. ('I will shoot Sitharaman, tomorrow will be her last day'), police said.

Currently, she said, there is a problem in collating foreign direct investment (FDI) data related to the defence sector.

Appearing in “Aap Ki Adalat” show of India TV Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Rajat Sharma, Nirmala Sitharaman admitted that transgressions do take place at the Line of Actual Control with China.

On Rahul Gandhi’s charge that public sector company Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd was overlooked in favour of Anil Ambani’s company for manufacture of Rafale aircraft, the Defence Minister said, that HAL was already overburdened and its production capacity was less.

The defence minister is taking questions from India TV Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Rajat Sharma.