Union Minister of Defence Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said she will “make it clear in Parliament” that she has responded to the Opposition’s allegation on the Rafale deal at least four times, ANI reported.
“I have given written responses too but the fact remains that, are you accepting those answers?” Sitharaman said at a press conference in Chennai.
India signed an inter-governmental agreement with France in 2016 to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets, at a cost of Rs 58,000 crore. The Congress and several other leaders have been accusing the Narendra Modi government of getting an overpriced deal. It has also alleged that the government helped a defence firm owned by Ambani with no experience in the sector to land a mega contract under the deal.
The defence minister had said on September 14 that the Opposition does not deserve to be engaged on the Rafale deal as it has smeared a sensitive matter.
On the 2016 “surgical strikes”, Sitharaman said “an action of this kind would deter Pakistan from training and sending terrorists”. “My action will continue at the border irrespective of whether they have learnt a lesson or not,” ANI quoted her as saying.
Sitharaman also said that the negotiation on the S-400 air defence systems is at a stage “where it can be finalised”. “We have a big legacy of buying defence equipment from Russia,” she said.
The S-400 is a military system comprising radars, command post, different types of missiles and launchers that can track several dozen incoming objects simultaneously from hundreds of kilometres away and launch counter-missiles.
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