Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Rafale deal by pointing out that why now an aircraft is costing around Rs 520 crore which was earlier at Rs 1,600 crore.
Gandhi demanded a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe on the Rafale deal and said that people should know who Modi is trying to benefit in this deal.
Attacking Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Gandhi said Jaitley wrote in his blog hiting out at Congress but didn't say anything on JPC probe.
Earlier in the day, hundreds of Youth Congress workers took to the streets to voice their protest against the deal they dubbed the "biggest scam".
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Rafale is a French twin-engine multi-role fighter jet designed and built by Dassault Aviation. Rafale jets are considered one of the most potent combat jets globally.
India and France signed a deal worth Euro 7.87 billion (Rs 59,000 crore approximately) on September 23, 2016 for 36 Rafale jets. The delivery of the aircraft will start from September 2019.
The deal was finalised on the basis of the procurement procedure followed under the UPA government.
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The Congress has been accusing massive irregularities in the deal, alleging that the government was procuring each aircraft at a cost of over Rs 1,670 crore as against the Rs 526 crore finalised by the UPA government.
The party has also demanded answers from the government on why state-run aerospace major HAL was not involved in the deal.
(PTI)
