Clearing the air on the Rafale deal, FM Jaitley said that the present NDA government has negotiated hard to keep prices down by at least 20% for each aircraft as per 2016 deal, compared to that of UPA in 2007.
He further falsified Rahul Gandhi’s allegations and mocked them by saying, “This (allegations on Rafale deal) is like a kindergarten or primary school debate, Well, I was paying 500 something and you’ve paid 1600 something. That’s the argument being given, it shows how little understanding Rahul Gandhi has.
“What was negotiated from 2015 to 2016 and finally executed in 2016, with the escalations and the currency variations, the basic aircraft price turns out to be 9% cheaper. Is the Congress party aware of this?” he said.
“Quantum in defence is always large. Therefore, quantum doesn’t mean anything. Please produce a shred of evidence that Government of India has anything to do with any of the offset suppliers for any contract, whether under UPA or NDA” FM Jaitley added.
“I have, at least twice, repeated this sentence, how much does he know and when will he know? Can you compare a basic aircraft’s pricing with a loaded aircraft? Can you compare simple aircraft with a weaponized aircraft?” FM stated in response to Gandhi’s allegations.
Arun Jaitley further said,"Every fact that they (Congress) have said on pricing is factually false. Mr Rahul Gandhi himself has given 7 different prices in different speeches with regard to the 2007 Rafale offer."
He further said that it’s a government to government arrangement and one cannot lie in such an arrangement. “Congress must remember that it can’t fool people all the time. This is a government to government arrangement. Offset has nothing to do with this contract. Government will purchase 36 fully-loaded aircrafts from France, no private party involved. Government’s role ends”.
He then responded to Rahul Gandhi’s statement in Lok Sabha over Rafale Deal, where he claimed that he had a one-on-one interaction with French President; saying “If you can go to extent of misquoting President Macron, and saying he warned me there is no secrecy clause, the French government denied it, the GoI showed the secrecy cause in Parliament and then you turn around and say- hoga par main nahin manta”.