Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar on Monday denied supporting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is under fire from the Opposition for alleged irregularities in the Rafale defence deal with France. The veteran politician also called for a Joint Parliamentary Committee investigation into the agreement while speaking at a rally in Maharashtra’s Beed on Monday, reported News18.
His comments came days after two senior members of his party resigned, claiming that Pawar’s words of support to Modi on the Rafale deal – during a television interview last week – had made it difficult for them to continue in the party.
At the rally, Pawar asked the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government to reveal the price it had agreed to pay French defence firm Dassault Aviation for the fighter jets. While a Rafale jet was priced at Rs 650 crore in the deal the United Progressive Alliance government signed in 2013, the Modi government has agreed to pay Rs 1,600 crore for a single aircraft, he alleged. “Appoint a Joint Parliamentary Committee, give documents.”
Last week, Pawar sparked a controversy by telling a Marathi news channel that “people do not have doubts” about Modi’s intentions. The Nationalist Congress Party chief also said the Opposition’s demand to share technical details of the fighter jets “made no sense”. He, however, said there would be no harm in the government disclosing the prices of the jets.
The Nationalist Congress Party later clarified that Pawar had neither given Modi a clean chit nor had made any statement defending the prime minister. However, senior leaders Tariq Anwar and party general secretary Munaf Hakim quit the party citing Pawar’s alleged support for Modi.
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