Why did Congress sit on Rafale deal for 10 years: Nirmala Sitharaman
The Defence minister declined to spell out in detail about what happened due to the indecision as the issue involved the nation's security.
Chennai: Flaying the Congress-led UPA regime for “sitting on plans” to buy the Rafale fighter planes from Dassault, a French company, for 10 years, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said after the BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power (in 2014) the inter-governmental route was opted for expeditious procurement of 36 Rafale fighters in fly-away condition.
The decision to strengthen the Air Force was taken by the Vajpayee government in 2000 but the Congress-led coalition, which came in 2004 could not seal the pact over the next decade. “After being in power for 10 years...you (Congress-led UPA) went without taking a decision,” she said. The Defence minister declined to spell out in detail about what happened due to the indecision as the issue involved the nation’s security.
Speaking to reporters here on Saturday after interacting with the CII members, she said the BJP government is functioning without any sort of corruption, and this, in fact was why the Congress party was attempting to raise the issue now. Accusing the Congress of “muddling up” the Rafale fighter planes issue, she said that party raised questions over the deal, hoping to look for non-existent corruption.