Bofors sank Congress, Rafale will bring Modi back: Sitharaman

​New Delhi: The Lok Sabha on Friday witnessed a fiery debate on Rafale deal where Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman gave a point-by-point rebuttal to Congress chief’s charges. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in an over two-hour reply in parliament to an acrimonious debate on the Rafale jet deal, accused the Congress of scrapping an earlier deal for 126 jets when it was in power because it "didn't get the money" and ignored national security in favour of its "treasury security". 

Pulling no punches, the minister referred to the Bofors scandal that exploded when Rajiv Gandhi - the father of Congress president Rahul Gandhi - was prime minister in 1986 and said: "Bofors was a scam, Rafale is not. It is a decision in the national interest. They lost an election because of Bofors. Rafale will bring Prime Minister Narendra Modi back to power."

Sitharaman tore into Rahul Gandhi-led Congress over the Rafale deal, alleging that the party never intended to purchase the fighter jets “till something else was done”. “You stopped the deal, forgetting the Air Force was suffering. The deal didn’t get you money,” she asserted. The minister rubbished the speculations that the fighter aircraft were “available off the shelf”.

“The assumption that these fighters are available off the shelf is really mistaken. None of this is available of the shelf,” she said. Taking a swipe at the Congress over its allegation that the government did favour to Anil Ambani by making his company the offset partner of the Rafale deal, the Defence minister reminded it of Bofors scam and said, “For every ‘AA (Anil Ambani)’ there is a ‘Q (Quattrocchi)’ and ‘RV (Robert Vadra)’,” she said. 

“Congress is shedding crocodile tears over HAL not getting the deal, why didn’t it settle the issue during its tenure?” she asked.  Sitharaman also accused the party of misleading the country “by saying the NDA government had reduced the 126 jets to 36”. “Congress was supposed to buy 18 aircraft, the NDA had raised it to 36,” she claimed. Emphasising the need to ensure national security, she said, “There is a difference between defence deal and deal in defence. 

We deal with national security as a priority.” “The timeline for the payment and quantum are all well prepared and kept in the defence ministry,” she added. The minister also assured that the first aircraft will be delivered in three years from 2016 and the last jet will be delivered by 2022. Rejecting claims of giving favour to Anil Ambani, Sitharaman responded by saying the government had inherited the offset policy from UPA and it had no role in choosing the offset partner for the Rafale deal.