Cries of help are of those seeking freedom from tyranny: Rahul Gandhi

The Congress also stepped up its attack on the government over the Rafale fighter jet deal arguing that Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s remarks about corporate warfare proved that the BJP government had given preference to corporate interests over national interest.

Hitting out at the Congress for alleging corruption in the Rafale deal on Saturday, Sitharaman asked whether there was an “international corporate warfare” behind the allegations.

Addressing a press conference, AICC media convener Priyanka Chaturvedi said Sitharaman’s statement is as “fallacious” as her reply to a debate on the Rafale row in Parliament.

“In fact, by bringing this argument about corporate warfare, Modi government’s defenceless Defence Minister seals and stamps the Congress party’s charge that the Rs 30,000 crore offset contract and Rs 1 lakh crore lifecycle cost contract in PM Modi’s Rafale deal was given to his crony friend’s company which had zero experience and was brazen cronyism’ at its best.”

Chaturvedi said the Congress wants answers from the Defence Minister as to what was the compulsion to “snatch” the Rafale contract from HAL, although a work share agreement worth approximately Rs 36,000 crore was already signed on March 13, 2014. The government needs to explain why it cancelled the UPA deal of 108 aircraft and announced a fresh RFP for 110 MMRCA aircraft on July 6, 2018, after four years of assuming office, Chaturvedi said.