Rahul alleges 'scam' in French Rafale deal

New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday attacked the government for not making public the prices of Rafale fighter aircraft, and charged that there was a "scam" in the deal.

"For the first time, the defence minister is saying that we will not share details of money spent on buying the aircraft...I spoke during the Gujarat polls that there is a scam (in the Rafale deal). Modi ji has personally got the deal done," Gandhi told reporters outside the Parliament.

He added, "Modi ji had personally gone to Paris.

Personally, the deal was changed. Entire India knows it.

And the defence minister is saying she will not inform India, the Indian martyrs and their relatives about the money spent on buying those aircraft. What does this mean? This only means there is some scam."

Gandhi's attack came a day after Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had refused to share the details of the deal on the grounds of the security agreement signed between India and France.

Sitharaman's response came to a question by Samajwadi Party member Naresh Agrawal. Agrawal had sought to know why the government was not disclosing details of the multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) deal in which Congress had alleged that the price of the fighter jets being paid by NDA government was higher than what was finalised by the UPA in a previous deal.

"As per Article 10 of the Inter-Governmental Agreement between Governments of India and France on the purchase of Rafale aircraft, the protection of the classified information and material exchanged under IGA is governed by the provisions of the Security Agreement signed between Government of France and Government of India in 2008," Sitharaman had said.

India and France signed the inter-government agreement for buying 36 Rafale fighters, off the shelf, on September 23, 2016, following long negotiations on the deal. Under the deal during the UPA regime, 126 fighter jets were to be bought and included a number of fighters being assembled in India. (with agency inputs)